The Demon Children
by insanemonkeyboy
Summary: When E.N.D. appears during the final battle with Alvarez, Natsu's comrades treat him like an outsider. Only one person in the guild continues to relate to the dragon slayer, and she fought her own demons early in life. Natsu x Mira
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters.

For those of you reading my other current story, don't worry. I'm working on finishing it. I felt like I needed to start this story though.

This is strictly a Natsu x Mira fanfic. Haven't decided yet if there will be lemons, though I'm not ruling it out.

* * *

 **~During the final battle with Alvarez~**

"No!" Natsu watched as the powerful mage, August, barreled through his comrades mercilessly. One after another they were thrown down. The fire dragon slayer attacked again, only to be thrown back again by the powerful mage, taking heavy damage despite dodging the brunt of the attack.

Feeling helpless before the enemy, a new emotion began to well up inside him. It wasn't anger. He'd been angry many times before, but the man before him had attained powerful magic that he would only use to hurt people.

No. This wasn't anger. It was something far more deadly. Something far more powerful. The dragon slayer was feeling pure, unadulterated, rage.

Suddenly his appearance changed. His face became longer, his chin narrower. Scales appeared on his forehead and face, and horns sprouted from the side of his head, spiraling upward. His fingers warped and changed, becoming armored digits ending in long, deadly claws. A line of sharp ridges. His eyes burned a bright orange color, and his magic aura pressure increased tenfold.

The others watched in shock as the suddenly different dragon slayer turned toward the attacking armies.

"You have angered me…" His voice was different. Deep, devilish, and the very tones seemed to contain immense power. "Now you will suffer the consequences."

In the moments that followed, everyone looked on in shock as he lashed out with a fiery claw, knocking the powerful mage several hundred yards back through the enemy forces.

He then proceeded to go on a rampage, mutilating and destroying the enemy battalions in his battle with August. By the time it was over, not only August, but the whole battalion had been taken out. Many were dead.

Then he rounded on Fairy Tail.

Inside, Natsu didn't know what happened, but he knew that if he didn't somehow get control back this thing that he had become could hurt Fairy Tail. He fought desperately for control, and somehow gained it just before the charging etherious reached the guild's ranks.

 **~A month later, at the guild~**

"Hey Gray, fight me!" Natsu tried again boisterously. He'd been at it every day for the last 30 days.

"Leave me alone, demon boy." The ice mage turned away from him.

"Come on Laxus, let's rumble!"

"Not interested."

"Lucy, let's go on a quest!" He sat next to the blonde mage.

"Uh, no thanks Natsu…" Lucy scooted away from the boisterous dragon slayer. "I'm going on a quest later with Erza."

Natsu went and sat at the bar, his head down. _That's my boy. Think of the future, and that shall become your will to live…_ Igneel's words rang in his ear.

 _What future?_ He asked himself. Most traces of his transformation had disappeared, but scaly patches on his face and forehead remained, a permanent reminder of the demon within him. Everyone in the guild hated him now. No one would fight him, go on quests with him, or even look at him directly.

"Hello Natsu," a sweet, gentle voice said next to him.

"Mira!" Natsu looked up. The beautiful mage was the only one who would talk to him. Even Elfman and Lisanna kept their distance, their former friendship forgotten.

"You look sad," Mira said, smiling at him. "It's not like you."

Natsu forced his biggest smile. "Why would I be sad?" He asked. "I'm right here, in this great guild, with all my wonderful friends…" A tear came to his eyes.

"Oh Natsu…" Mira hugged the dragon slayer tightly, looking out with a scowl around the guild. Only a month ago Natsu had been the heart of the guild. Everyone had loved him – been inspired by him. Hell, half the people in the guild had been saved by him at one point or another. But since the appearance of E.N.D., they treated him like an outcast.

"Natsu," Mira said, "How would you like to go on a training journey, just you and me?"

"Training journey?"

Mira nodded. "You aren't E.N.D., Natsu… sure, the demon is inside you, but I have a demon inside me too. I think you need to learn take over magic."

Natsu looked at her, still surprised. "You think I can?"

Mira nodded. "I first discovered take over magic when I acquired the powers of a demon. My village shunned me because of it. That's actually how I ended up at Fairy Tail. The master taught me how to control my take over magic." She smiled. "Now I want to do the same for you."

"Thanks Mira," the dragon slayer hugged her tightly. "You're such a good friend!"

 _I want to be more than that…_ Mira thought. She didn't know exactly when it happened, but at some point her heart had been given to the boisterous dragon slayer who cared so much for his comrades.

"Natsu," she said aloud. "This will be very difficult. In order to master take over, you have to train your power as high as the demon you want to take over."

"So I'll have to become stronger than E.N.D.?" Natsu said.

Mira nodded. "While learning take over magic. Do you think you can do that?"

"I'm all fired up!" He hugged Mira tightly, and she blushed a little as her breasts pressed against his finely muscled chest.

"I was beginning to think I'd never hear you say that again," she said, smiling at the dragon slayer.

"So when do we leave?"

"After everyone goes home for the day," Mira said. "No need to announce our departure to everyone."

The next morning when Makarov came in, he found a note pinned to his usual place at the bar. Picking it up, he read:

 _Master Makarov,_

 _Natsu and I are going on an extended training quest. We probably won't be back for a long time, so don't look for us. Give the guild my regards,_

 _Mira._

Shortly after he finished reading the note, Elfman and Lisanna came in.

"Master," Elfman said. "Mira never came home last night. Did she go on a request?"

Without a word, Makarov handed him the note.

"Take care of each other, my children," he murmured. "And don't forget, wherever you go, you're still Fairy Tail mages."


	2. A Suitable Take Over Subject

I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters. You know, that standard stuff...

This is the second chapter of this story. If anyone is reading the other story, the next chapter of that is almost done. I probably won't write any more on this story till I post to that one.

Anyway... Here's the story. Hope you like it.

* * *

"Say Mira," almost a month had passed since they left Fairy Tail, and Natsu had learned the basics of take over magic. "Why are you always reading the paper?"

"The best way to practice take over magic is to take over something," Mira said. "But demons aren't exactly easy to find. So every time we're in a town I pick up the paper to see if there are any strange phenomena."

"Is that right?" The dragon slayer was scarfing down breakfast.

Mira nodded, smiling at the pink haired mage's resilience. "And we're in luck. I found evidence of a demon in this region. It's not as powerful as my highest take over souls, but it's powerful enough to be worth taking over."

"I'm fired up!" Natsu grinned.

"Then let's get going." Mira led the way through the forest.

After running for several minutes, they came to a devastated area. Trees were crushed to pieces, others had been disintegrated entirely to ash. In the center was an enormous crater.

"It's nearby," Mira looked at the widespread destruction. _And it might be more powerful than the reports said._

"Alright!" Natsu stepped out. "Hey demon! Come out and fight if you're out there!"

Mira couldn't help smiling at the dragon slayer's typical head-on approach. "That's not going to work Natsu…" Suddenly the dragon slayer leapt away from the clearing, just in time to avoid a dark blast that decimated all the trees in 10 yards from his position.

There was the demon, emerging from the other side of the immense crater. He had a hooked nose, a sharp, pointed chin, and black markings that covered the top of his head and came down around his eyes, making the top half of his head look almost black. His arms ended in clawed hands, and his wings were leathery with sharp barbs on the end of them. He also had an armored tail with spikes on the end.

 _This is on par with Sitri's power_ , Mirajane realized as she felt the power of the oncoming demon. _Natsu should be powerful enough to handle it, but still…_

"Natsu, don't give him time to attack again!" She cried. "Use take over, now!"

At first she thought nothing happened. Then the demon slowly disintegrated, being pulled into Natsu's body. When it was complete, Natsu took on the form of the demon. Mirajane waited, breathless.

It took a couple minutes, but then the demon spoke in Natsu's voice. "Alright! I've got it!"

Mirajane smiled. "Good. Now you need to practice his abilities. The time when you're most likely to lose control in a take over is when you're fighting."

Natsu focused, remembering his training, and attuned with the power of the demon soul. He sent out a black blast of magic about 50 meters away.

The explosion was magnificent. It created a crater over 100 meters wide and nearly 20 meters deep. Mirajane barely got out of the blast area in time.

"Alright…" she said. "Now we need to work on control."

"Aye sir!" exclaimed Happy, who was singed despite hovering 10 meters over the dragon slayer.

Natsu grinned ruefully, rubbing the back of his head.

 **~At the guild~**

"Natsu, I'm back!" Erza came strolling into the guild, which was very quiet for Fairy Tail.

She looked around. The dragon slayer was nowhere to be seen. Makarov motioned for her to come to the bar. He looked solemn.

"Is something wrong master?" she asked. "Did something happen to Natsu."

The guild master handed her the note. She read it, twice, then glared. "I'm going to kill that vixen." She started to head out.

"Just a minute Erza," the guild master said. "I don't think it's a good idea to go look for them."

"What do you mean?"

"While you were gone, after being injured by E.N.D.'s destructive rampage, a lot of the guild members treated Natsu poorly. That's why Mira suggested a training mission. She was reminded of her childhood, when her magic first manifested. Even Lucy and Gray refused to talk to the dragon slayer. It got to the point where Lucy even said she was going on a quest with you, forgetting in the moment of her excuse that you were still out of town."

Erza rounded on the table where Lucy, Gray, and Juvia were sitting. She marched over with her death-promising glare.

"What's this I hear about you guys treating Natsu like shit while I was gone?"

Gray sweat-dropped. "Umm.."

Lucy also sweat-dropped. "Erza, you're back!"

"Don't change the subject," Erza glared. "Why did you do that to Natsu?"

Gray rubbed the back of his head. "I don't really understand it myself…" he said. "It's just, whenever I looked at him, all I could think about was how my village was destroyed and my parents killed."

Lucy nodded. "It was the same for me. Whenever he was around all I could think about was Tartaros and everything they did to our family."

Erza glared, her hand on her blade threateningly.

"It was different when he wasn't around." Gray said, flinching back from her glare.

"Yeah," Lucy said, rubbing the back of her head. "Whenever he wasn't in the room I was so ashamed of myself. I kept thinking I should apologize to him. But whenever he was around, all the negative emotions came back, and I just couldn't."

Gray nodded.

Juvia spoke up. "Juvia felt the same way," she said.

Erza looked around at the three of them. "Something isn't quite right here…" She couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something vaguely familiar about the way they were affected. Almost like she'd seen it somewhere before.

"We're sorry Erza," Gray said. "Please don't hurt us…"

Erza's glare returned. "I'm still mad, though. Thanks to your behavior, that vixen Mirajane has gained a significant advantage."

"Advantage?..." Gray sweat-dropped.

"In the battle for Natsu's heart!" Erza said. "She's had several months already alone with Natsu!" She blushed as she realized what she was saying.

The other three mages' jaws hit the floor simultaneously.

"Not a word of this to anyone…" Erza glared, seeming to suddenly grow bigger and much scarier.

"No Ma'am!" The three mages cried out in unison, quivering in their chairs.

"I don't care what master says… I'm going to find them before Mira steals his heart." Erza headed out the door.

When she left, the three mages breathed a sigh of relief.

 **~That night, a forest somewhere in Fiore~**

"Mirajane…" Mira opened her eyes to see Seilah standing in front of her. They were in the guild hall, which was full of people, but nobody seemed to see them.

Mira quickly realized she was dreaming. _But why am I dreaming about Seilah?_

Seilah smirked, "Since I exist inside of you, this is the only way for me to make contact with your consciousness."

Mira blinked. "So you're actually talking to me?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because there's something I think it's time you acknowledged."

Instantly the scene around them changed. They were still in the guild hall, which was pretty full. Only Natsu, Erza, and Makarov seemed to be missing. Mira was behind the bar, and nobody seemed to be paying attention to her at the moment.

Suddenly Mira transformed into Mirajane-Seilah, and used her curse power: macro.

"Everybody in this guild is now under the power of my Macro. Whenever you see Natsu Dragneel, all of your worst memories and most negative emotions will come to your mind and be directed at him. All of you will forget that this happened. My macro is absolute."

The scene faded, leaving Mirajane sweating. She thrashed in her sleep. "No!" she said. "I didn't do that…"

Seilah just smirked at her. "You're half-right. I did."

"But why?"

"Because you want Natsu Dragneel to be your lover. And that wasn't going to happen with your unwillingness to ever make a move."

"But…"

"I tried to take over and macro Natsu, but you wouldn't let me. At some level, you made the decision to allow me to do this."

"No…" Mirajane buried her face in her hands, thinking about how much pain Natsu was going through. "Natsu… I'm so sorry…"

Seilah sighed. "Look. I got you and Natsu out here by yourself, and for over 3 months you haven't even made a move on him yet. Now eventually someone at the guild is going to figure out that macro was used. It's just a matter of time. You need to make your move quickly."

"I can't," wailed Mirajane. "Not now that I know this was all a lie…"

Seilah sighed, exasperated. "Then I'll take over you again and do it for you."

"No!" Mirajane buried her face in her hands. "No…"

"You've got 7 days," Seilah said. "If you don't make any progress, I will."

Suddenly the dream was over, and Mira woke up, shaking. Tears flowed down her face as she looked at the dragon slayer sleeping not far away. _I was the cause of all of it… Natsu…_

Mirajane Strauss didn't get any more sleep that night.

 **~The next day, at the guild~**

Erza had been well out of Magnolia when she realized she was going about this the wrong way. She needed to talk to Makarov. So the next morning she headed straight back to the guild.

Once she was inside the guild master's office, she related what Gray, Lucy, and Juvia had told her about their recent actions.

Makarov's eyes narrowed. Then he shook his head. "No… it couldn't be."

"What?" Erza eyed the guild master.

"From what you tell me, it sounds a lot like Seilah's macro. But Seilah's gone now. The only one who could use that macro is"

"Mirajane." Erza cut him off, a fiery glare in her eyes. "Mirajane, who's now on a prolonged training quest with him, alone. I'm gonna' kill that vixen when I find her."

"We'd best not jump to any conclusions." Makarov said. "There may be other magic like Seilah's curse power out there."

But Erza was already heading out, determination in her eyes.

 **~Later that evening, in a forest somewhere in Fiore~**

"What do you think, Mira? Did I do good today?"

"You were great, Natsu," the silver-haired mage smiled, avoiding the dragon slayers eyes.

"Is something wrong, Mira?" The dragon slayer asked.

"No, nothing." She still couldn't meet his eyes as he hugged her. She couldn't even return the hug.

"You don't hate me too, do you?" The dragon slayer asked, pulling back from her.

"Oh Natsu!" Mira clung to him, the tears beginning to flow. "I'm so sorry… Can you ever forgive me?"

"For what?" Natsu looked confused.

"It's all my fault…" Mira wailed. "I'm the reason everyone in the guild was treating you that way…"

"What do you mean?" There was hesitancy and a little bit of hardness in the dragon slayer's voice.

With the tears still flowing, the silver-haired mage recounted the pertinent parts of her conversation with Seilah. She told him how the etherious had used her macro to turn the guild against Natsu.

"Well, then it wasn't really you, was it?" Natsu said. "It was the soul you have in you."

"But I let her do it," she wailed. "She said I wouldn't let her macro you… So I must have unconsciously wanted it to happen…"

"No," Natsu said. "I think it was more that your will was less strong. When I was E.N.D., I didn't really want to kill anyone… but I still did. But I really didn't want to hurt Fairy Tail, and I was able to stop before that happened… Well, except for one," he added sadly.

"So you're saying it's not that I wanted to macro everyone else, it's just that I really didn't want to macro you?" Mira said.

"That sounds right." The dragon slayer grinned. "So of course I forgive you."

The tears kept coming as Mira clung to the dragon slayer. "Thank you Natsu... I was so afraid that you would hate me if you found out…"

"One thing I don't understand," the dragon slayer said. "Why did Seilah do all that? There must have been a reason."

Mirajane blushed. "She wanted us to spend time alone together…"

"Huh?" Natsu asked, taken aback.

"She's in my body, so she can tell what I'm thinking and feeling…" Mirajane said.

"I still don't know what you're saying." The dragon slayer said.

"I want to be with you Natsu!" The silver haired mage said. "I want to be yours… your one and only. Seilah could sense that, so she decided to try to make it happen. I… I love you, Natsu."

The dragon slayer didn't say anything for a few minutes. Then he wrapped his arms around the silver-haired mage. "Mira… if you wanted that, why didn't you just ask?"

"Because I was afraid…" Mira sobbed. "Afraid that you would reject me. You were so close with Lucy… and Erza… I thought for sure you were in love with one of them…"

"Mira," Natsu said gently. "I like Lucy, she's a great friend. But I don't love her that way. And Erza… well, there was a time when I thought I might, but she had Jellal…"His face darkened a little at the memory, but the shadow passed quickly. "But I always liked you too. The way you always had a smile for everyone in the guild when they needed it. Your desire to protect everything close to you. The way you could stay calm even when everything seemed to be lost."

He slowly leaned down toward Mira, who blushed at the closeness of his lips. "I do love you, Mirajane." He said softly, just before their lips touched. "And I will be yours forever, if you'll have me."

Mirajane blushed, her tears disappearing as she was wrapped in the arms of the man she loved, sharing her first blissful kiss.

Far away, Erza had a sudden premonition that she'd just permanently lost a battle.


	3. Hunting Demons

I don't own Fairy Tail, I don't own the characters, all that good stuff...

So this is the third chapter. Hope you all enjoy.

* * *

"There's got to be something," Erza scanned the news frantically, her eyes scanning the news.

It had been a full week since she started her quest to find Natsu and that demon, Mirajane, and bring them back to the guild (after giving Mirajane a good thrashing, of course). And she still hadn't made any progress.

Finally she found an article with a picture. She read the headline quickly. "Huge crater appears suddenly deep in the forest… That's gotta be Natsu" she scanned the paper rapidly, looking for a location.

"Over 60 miles from the nearest town?" she gaped. By the time she even got to the area they would almost certainly be gone. "I've got to anticipate their next move."

"Think Erza, think." The requip mage urged herself. "If only I knew what Mira was thinking, I could figure out where they're headed next…"

Finally she sighed. Sometimes you had to go back to make progress. She hated to admit it, but she needed help.

She took the first train back to Magnolia.

 **~Elsewhere in the kingdom, a small town in a valley~**

"You know, there's still one thing I don't understand Mira." Natsu said between mouthfuls of food.

"What's that?" Mira asked. She'd finished eating several minutes ago.

"Well, Zeref said I am E.N.D., so how do you know it's a take over? Maybe it's just who I am.."

Mira shook her head. "I'm a take over mage, Natsu." She said. "You can tell a take over from an etherious transformation. E.N.D. is an entirely different soul."

"But how is that possible?" Natsu said.

"I don't know…" Mira said. "I would guess it was either when Zeref revived you as an etherious, or maybe when you went through the eclipse gate. Either way, somehow your soul ended up in your body along with E.N.D."

"I'm a little confused about that too," Natsu said. "What's with this whole soul thing?"

Mira grinned. "Well, when you take over something, you essentially absorb its soul into your body. The soul is…. Well, I guess you could say it's the essence of a living being. Satan soul allows you to absorb and use the souls of demons. That's what you and I have. Beast soul, like my brother has, allows you to absorb and use the essence of monsters. Animal soul, which Lisanna has, allows you to use absorb and use the essence of animals."

"But the souls are still alive inside you?"

"Yes," Mirajane rubbed her head. "I don't know how to explain it, fully, but it's kind of like they become a part of you. Your soul is basically the master soul, so you control all the other souls…"

"So how did E.N.D. take control of me, and Seilah of you?" Natsu asked.

"If a soul is very powerful – with equal power to yours or greater – you can lose control of it when you transform." Mira said. "That's what happened when we thought Lisanna died… But apparently, strong souls can also react to your emotions, using very strong emotions to seize control of your body without your consent."

"Oh." Natsu said, still confused.

"You don't have to understand it." Mirajane giggled. "Just know that you have to become more powerful than the souls you take over."

"That's easy enough to understand." Natsu grinned, pushing his plate away. "So where to today?"

"This town's been plagued by a demon that's supposed to be living in a cave north of here," Mirajane said. "We're gonna go check it out."

"Alright!" I'm all fired up!"

 **~Back at the guild~**

Erza sweat-dropped as she looked around the guild. "Why does everyone look so glum?"

Makarov motioned for her to come up to the front again. "It appears that they were all released from macro the day after you left to find Natsu. They're all mad at themselves for treating him the way they did…"

"So it was Mirajane," Erza seethed. "I'm gonna kill that bitch… As soon as I find her."

"I'm surprised to see you back so soon," Makarov said. "You usually don't know when to give up."

"I'm not giving up. I came back to ask for help."

"You want me to help you?"

"To help me figure out how to get ahead of them. So far the only stories I could find were of places far away from towns and villages. Which means they could be really old."

"So how do you think I can help?"

"If we can figure out how they're choosing their locations, we can figure out where they're likely to go next."

"I can help with that," Mavis said.

"First master!" Erza got all sparkly eyed. "Thank you so much!"

"I actually think it's pretty simple." She said. "Mira's form of magic is take over: satan soul."

"So?"

"So," said the first master, "What if Natsu and E.N.D. are actually separate souls?"

Erza began to follow her line of thought. "Then in order to master E.N.D., Natsu would have to master Take Over magic… But how does that help us?"

Mavis beamed. "In order to master Take Over magic, he'll have to practice. If his magic takes the form of Take Over: Satan Soul, there's only one way for him to do that…"

"To take over more demons!" Erza practically shouted. "They're looking for demons!"

Mavis grinned. "So if you really want to catch up with them, search for signs of demons."

"Yes!" Erza perked up. "Now I know I'll find them."

"You can start here if you want," Mavis said. "Magnolia is a central hub for news, so I'll help you look over the news articles and pinpoint potential locations."

"Thank you so much, first master!" Erza beamed. "Natsu, your heart will be mine!"

Makarov's jaw hit the floor. Mavis just smiled.

 **~Deep in the mountains~**

Mira and Natsu followed the tunnel deeper, surprised at how far into the mountains they'd already come. Natsu was lighting their path with his flames, the last remnants of light having faded long ago.

"By the way Natsu," Mira said. "There's something else you should know about Take Over. You can't use Take Over on a demon that's beyond your magic power levels. I couldn't use Take Over on Seilah until she was very weak."

"Yeah, you said that before. And demons who are stronger than you can make you lose control, like E.N.D."

"Yes. I think by putting E.N.D. in you, Zeref inadvertently gave you Take Over magic. But E.N.D. is too powerful for your current magic power level, so if you use Take Over: E.N.D. he would be the one in charge."

"How will I know when I'm strong enough to master E.N.D.?"

"It's hard, but you have to remember when he took over last time." Mira said. "Remembering the destruction he caused… the feeling of power when he took over… That will help you to know when you're ready."

"Hey Mira,"

"Yes Natsu?"

"If you have to have enough magic power to take over a demon, how come Seilah was able to take control even though you used take over on her?"

"Well, Seilah was very weak when I used take over on her… About to die, actually. Her power level at the time is probably equal to my power level now. I don't really know why she was able to take control, but it has something to do with strong feelings or emotions."

"Like anger?"

"Perhaps, if it's a very strong anger." Mira said. "Or love…"

"Mmm." Natsu grunted as they continued down the tunnels.

"Natsu…" Happy cut in, the cat had been unusually silent for most of the trip.

"What is it Happy?"

"I'm hungry…"

"But you just filled up on fish at the restaurant."

"But that was hours ago… And we've been walking for a really long time."

Silence for a few minutes.

"Natsu…"

"Shut up Happy."

"When we get back I'm gonna' tell Lucy everything you and Mira do at night when you think I'm sleeping."

"Satan Soul: Sitri!"

"AAAAH! I was just kidding Mira!" *Smack* *Thud*

 **~Several minutes later~**

"Natsu…"

"What is it now Happy?"

"It hurts… T_T"

"Deal with it."

"You're so mean, Natsu…"

 **~Back at the guild~**

"Alright," Mavis said, looking up from her stack of news articles. "I've found 4 potential locations."

"Let me see," Erza demanded.

Mavis grinned, showing her a map with seven different circles on it. "Ruling out the areas where the articles indicate Natsu and Mira have already been, we have this little town in the mountains, this town in the heart of the forest. This town near the edge of the kingdom, and this town not far from the capital."

Erza sweat-dropped. "How do I know which one they'll go to next?"

Mavis smiled. "According to my calculations, this town…" she pointed to the one among the mountains "is closest to their last known location. Mira has all the same information we do, so they likely headed in that direction."

"Great!" Erza said, ready to go.

"But according to my calculations, there's a 90% chance that they're there already. Which means if you were to leave now, arriving in 2 days at the fastest possible pace after considering all possible modes of travel, there's an 85% chance you would miss them."

"Well, where are they heading next then?"

Mavis looked at the map. "This location is closest to their presumed location," she said.

Erza turned to leave again. "But the article pointing to this location was only released yesterday."

Erza sighed. "Meaning?"

"If Mirajane created a list of potential targets before they started visiting them, it's likely that her list doesn't include this location, which means they'll probably end up over here." She pointed to the small town near the border of the kingdom.

"That's a four day journey at least," Erza said. "But won't they stop in town to check the news before moving on?"

"That's unlikely." Mavis replied. "Chances are they don't want to be found, which means they would avoid all places where they would be likely to be seen."

"How certain are you on this?"

"According to my calculations, there's an 87.9% chance that this is where they'll head next."

"I'm not sure I like that remaining 12.1%" Erza muttered.

Mavis just smiled.

 **~In the cave, deep in the tunnels~**

"We're getting close now," Natsu said. "I can smell demon."

"I'm glad we have your sensitive nose, Natsu," Mira said.

"Hold on…" Natsu sniffed the air again. "I smell something else… human…"

"Oh great." Mira said. "Only one thing that can mean."

"What's that?"

"This demon has its own cult."

"Really?" Natsu asked, surprised.

"It's not that uncommon," Mira said. "Just like there are Zeref cults all over Fiore, there are cults devoted to some demons. Typically restricted to small towns in remote locations… kind of like this one…"

"Great." Said Natsu. "I guess when I Take Over the demon, they'll be worshiping me!"

Mirajane sweat-dropped. "Not unless you want to stay here in this cave forever…"

"Huh?"

"Unlike Zeref cults, which are just misguided zealots, these cults are like a pact. The people worship the demon, and the demon stays at a location near their village. Sort of becoming a symbol of luck."

"So basically, we're taking their luck…"

"That's the way they see it," Mira replied.

"Isn't there any way to do it without making them angry?"

"Not that I know of… But Natsu, these cults aren't like guilds. Most towns try to stay away from demons. Demon cults typically do things they believe please demons… like sacrificing animals, food, and sometimes even children."

"Children?" Natsu's eyes got wide.

Mira nodded. "They're not people to feel sorry for, Natsu. By taking over the demon, you'll actually be doing them a favor, even though they won't see it that way…"

"Alright! I'm all fired up!"

 **~At the Magnolia train station~**

"Why do we have to go with you Erza?" Gray whined. "It's a long way… let's just wait till they get back."

"We're as mad about the whole thing as you are," Lucy said. "But there's nothing we can do about it right now…"

Erza glared at her. "You're trying to win Natsu's heart too, aren't you?!"

"N-No…" Lucy gulped. "I just want my friend to come back."

"But we're better off letting him come back himself," Gray said, rubbing the back of his head.

"Nonsense. You two are coming with me and apologizing to him. Besides, I may need someone to hold the demoness at bay while I woo Natsu back." Her eyes were suddenly sparkling, and her cheeks flushed and radiant.

"Eh…" Gray and Lucy sweat-dropped and started inching away.

Just then the train pulled in. Erza grabbed both of them by the collar and dragged them to the door. "Tickets for 3 please."

Soon Team Natsu, minus Natsu, was off to the most remote town in Fiore that the train could reach.

 **~Deep within a cave~**

"Take Over!" Natsu cried. Mirajane was busy keeping the cultists at bay.

The cultists watched in horror as their good luck symbol dissipated and was absorbed into the pink-haired mage.

"You'll pay for that!" Yelled the cult leader.

"Satan Soul: Mirajane Seilah!"

They stared in shock as she transformed into the large-breasted etherious.

"You will go back to your homes and fall asleep now."

Wordlessly, the cultists all headed out of the cave. Mirajane returned to her normal self, smiling.

"You should've just done that to begin with," the transformed Natsu said.

"I was a little worried about what would happen if I brought out Seilah again…" Mirajane said.

"Is that right?"

"Well, I was worried, but I'm not really anymore." She said. "I don't think Seilah can take control anymore."

Natsu was playing with the new powers, collapsing various sections of the cavern they were in.

"Natsu…." She sweat-dropped. "Please stop before you block us in here."

"Ehehehe..." Natsu rubbed the back of his head, transforming back into his familiar dragon slayer form. "Sorry, Mira."

Then the two headed back out of the cave, ready to move on to their next target.


	4. When Calculations Go Awry

I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters. This is just a fanfiction.

So anyway... here's chapter 4.

* * *

"Alright!" Erza said as they got off the train. "This is as far as the train goes. We're gonna' have a quick lunch at a restaurant nearby and catch a coach to take us as close as it can to here." She pointed to a red circle on the map near a remote village. "That's where the first master says we should find the demon."

"That's not that far from the village." Gray said. "If we leave the village tomorrow morning, we'll be there by noon tomorrow."

"Only one problem," Erza said. "This…" she pointed to another town, about 50 miles south of the remote village, "is as far as we can get by coach. After that, we'll have to walk."

Gray sweat-dropped. "Oh… No wonder the first master said 4 days minimum…"

"So no dilly-dallying," Erza said. "We eat here. Take a coach to this village, and set out immediately after dinner. I want to get at least 8 miles in the first night."

"8 miles!" Lucy and Gray sweat-dropped.

Erza rounded on them. "Every minute that vixen has alone with Natsu, her chances of winning the battle for his heart go way up. We can't afford to waste any time."

"But don't you think there's a good chance they're already together?" Lucy said quietly, twirling her hair nervously.

"NO!" Erza roared. "THAT BITCH HAS NOT WON THIS BATTLE YET!"

"I'm sorry!" Lucy cowered away.

"This is the most determined I've ever seen Erza," Gray whispered to Lucy as they trudged toward the restaurant.

"And scary…" Lucy whispered back.

"I heard that." Erza turned around and glowered at them.

"We're sorry!"

 **~Back at the guild~**

Makarov came in to find the first master staring at the maps she and Erza had gone over a couple nights ago. She looked on the verge of tears.

"Is something wrong?" Makarov asked.

"My calculations," her voice told him she was on the verge of a breakdown. "I was so excited, I forgot something in my calculations…"

Makarov sweat-dropped, desperately hoping for his sake that she was wrong.

"What did you forget?"

"Natsu's nose," the first master wailed. "He'll smell them before they even get close enough to make contact."

Makarov sweat-dropped as the first master began bawling her eyes out. Erza was sure to be in a foul mood when she got back.

 **~Deep in a forest, in the northern part of Fiore~**

"Why do we have to take the long way again?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah." Happy said. "I haven't had anything but these disgusting flying fish for 3 days!"

Mira smiled. "We're trying to avoid towns so that nobody sees us, remember?" she said. "I reversed Seilah's macro on the guild, so they're sure to be looking by now." _Especially Erza…_ Natsu may have believed Erza was still in love with Jellal, but Mira knew differently. She'd seen the red-haired swordswoman staring at the dragon slayer with desire on her face when his attention was elsewhere.

"Oh right." Natsu grinned. "Can't we just explain things to them? No hard feelings to them, but we've got to finish this quest."

"It might not be so easy as that," Mira said. "And besides, we've only got a couple more weeks left before we finish with the demons we've already found. Then we can go back to the guild and continue the training."

"Is that right?"

"Aye sir!" Happy interjected.

Suddenly Natsu stopped, his nose twitching.

"What is it Natsu?" Mira asked. "We're still at least 3 days from our target."

"There's someone out there," Natsu said, pointing to the north. "And whoever it is, she's coming toward us fast."

"How far away?"

"She should be close enough to engage in about 30 seconds…"

Against her better judgment, Mira waited out in the open with Natsu as the unknown female approached. Moments later she emerged, sprinting just close enough to make visual contact before stopping and appraising them.

The woman was tall, nearly 6 feet in height, but very slender, except for her buxom breasts that completely filled out her violet bikini style top. Dark blue, skin-tight pants hung just below her waist on her hips, coming to an end just below the knees. There were empty dagger sheaths on each side, the daggers that belonged in them currently in her hands. Her hair was blood red, and her eyes matched. Her arms were both covered with a purplish-red tattoo.

"Who are you?" Natsu asked as she looked at them, her nose twitching.

"You two reek of demon…" The woman answered in a voice that didn't sound quite human.

Mira was instantly on her guard. "What do you want? Who are you?"

The woman laughed, her daggers at the ready. "I'm Laina, the most feared demon-hunter in Fiore."

Natsu grinned, relaxing his guard and rubbing the back of his head. "Well, nice to meet you Laina… HEY!" He jumped out of the path just in time as the woman charged him, stabbing at his chest with one of her daggers.

"I don't have time to waste talking to demons," she said.

"I think there's a misunderstanding…" Mirajane sweat-dropped. "We're not demons…"

"You may not have been born demons, but you reek of demon soul," the girl said, her eyes hard. "There's no difference between a real demon and the ones who can absorb their souls."

Mira dodged as she attacked with her knives. "That's a little naïve.."

"Shut up, demon." The girl drew a magic circle with her dagger, and a purplish-green mist covered Mira.

"Poison?" Mira said. "For a demon hunter, you're not very…" Suddenly she gasped, choking as the poison entered her lungs.

"But how?" She gasped, her breathing becoming labored as her eyes threatened to close.

"This is devil slayer magic," Laina said. "This poison is fatal to demons when administered in strong enough doses… And now for you!" Natsu was shrouded in the purplish green mist.

"That was easy…" Laina started to walk away, but stopped when she felt an intense heat.

"What did you do to Mira?" The dragon slayer demanded, anger in his eyes.

"How?..." she gaped.

"My body can burn poison," he smirked. "I learned that when I was fighting Cobra, years ago. Now tell me what you did to Mira."

"I gave her a lethal dose of poison," the girl smirked. "But I guess I'll have to take you down the hard way. Don't worry, though, your death will be swift and mostly painless. Because she's not fully demon, just infected with demon souls, it'll probably be a few days of suffering before she dies."

Natsu looked at Mira's face contorted with pain. "You think that's amusing?" He growled. "You think it's funny to watch another person suffer."

"She's not a person. She's more demon than human… and so are you." The girl said. "She deserves every bit of pain she's going to experience. I only wish I could give you the same slow, agonizing death."

Suddenly Laina blanched. The heat had increased in intensity. "Fire dragon king mode…" The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was a massive flame, and she could almost swear she saw a dragon behind it. Then the searing heat hit her, burning through her clothing in an instant, and rendered her unconscious.

Natsu didn't have time to celebrate his victory.

"Happy!" He cried out. "Can you carry her for a while?"

"Aye Sir!" the cat picked her up, flying above the trees as the dragon slayer raced for the small town to the south.

 **~The next day~**

Natsu finally reached the town, his legs ready to clasp from exhaustion as he ran to a large building near the center of the town.

"Do you have a healer here?" He asked, gasping for breath. "This girl has been poisoned. She needs help now!"

"I'll go get Izuul," a young girl said, running out into the town.

Natsu collapsed to the floor, cradling Mira's head in his lap. "Don't die, Mira…" He said, his hands caressing her pale cheek. "You can't die…"

In a few moments the young girl came back, followed by an elderly man. The man examined Mira for a few minutes, then sighed.

"She is infected with a magic poison," he said. "I can give her the antidote, but she will need at least a week to recover her strength." He looked at Natsu. "A few more hours and she would have been beyond my help. You got her here just in time, lad…" Follow me.

Natsu picked up Mirajane and followed the man back to a small on the outskirts of the town. There Izuul found a potion, which he poured slowly into Mirajane's mouth. The silver-haired mage swallowed, her face wrinkling at the taste. For a couple moments nothing changed. Then, slowly, she began to breathe a little easier.

"Your friend is a take over mage, isn't she?" The old man asked.

Natsu was surprised by the question. "How did you know?"

"The poison she was infected with was a very specific poison that only affects demons and mages with the Satan Soul take over ability," Izuul replied. "If she were a full demon, there would've been nothing we could do for her…"

"If she was poisoned this way, you must have seen Laina," the old man added after a few moments of silence.

"How do you know that?" Natsu was instantly on his guard.

"Don't worry… I don't share the youth's misguided passion." The man sighed. "Laina lived in this village when she was young… This used to be a much larger village, bustling with life. But one day we were attacked by a dark guild who was after a rare treasure Laina's parents were guarding."

"On that day, Laina, who was 4 years old, watched helpless as her parents were brutally murdered by the leader of the dark guild – a man who used magic to take over the souls of demons. The few of us who survived tried to raise her here, but she never forgot that day. And as soon as she was old enough she left to learn devil slayer magic. Since then, she's made herself the protector of this village, killing any demon – or Satan Soul take over mage – who comes close to the village."

Natsu looked down at Mira. "I understand how she feels," the dragon slayer said. "But it's not right to kill people just because of the type of magic they use."

"I agree," the old man said. "I've tried to talk to her many times, but she won't hear it. She sees every take over mage who uses Satan Soul as though they were the ones who killed her parents a long time ago…"

"There's a good chance she'll come back to town while your friend is still recovering," the old man said. "So she should stay here. It's the only place she'll be safe."

"I hope it's not too much of a bother then," Natsu said. "But I'd like to stay here as well…"

The old man smiled. "No trouble at all."

 **~Elsewhere in Fiore~**

"Can't we stop for the night?" Lucy groaned.

"Or turn around and head back?" Gray added.

Erza just trudged on ahead of them.

"How did we get dragged into this again?" Lucy asked Gray.

"I don't know…" Gray said. "But this is the first time I've ever missed Juvia's constant fawning.

A squeal erupted from the woods about 20 feet behind them.

Gray sweat-dropped. "Almost missed…" he amended.

"Erza, how much further do we have to go?"

Erza pointed up the large, wooded mountain ahead of them. "According to this map, if we reach the top of this mountain tonight, we should get to the village by noon tomorrow. We can eat lunch and head out directly."

Lucy and Gray both groaned, staring at the mountain.

Erza rounded on them. "The sooner we get started, the sooner we get to the top. Now let's go!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"She's really a lot more intense than usual…" Lucy muttered to Gray.

"More like psychotic," Gray muttered back.

"I don't want to know what will happen when – and if – we actually catch up with them…"

"I'm kind of curious. Haven't seen a fight between Titania and demon Mirajane for a long time."

Lucy sweat-dropped. "I don't know if I want to see that…"

"Either way, the sooner we get there, the sooner we get rid of psycho-Erza. Never thought I would miss scary Erza…"

Lucy stifled a laugh.

"Don't think I can't hear you," Erza said. "Just for that we're going an extra mile tonight…"

The two mages groaned, and soon they were trudging along in silence.


	5. And So We Wait

I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters. All that stuff. I just write about it...

Anyway, here's chapter 5. Hope you like it.

* * *

Laina awoke to discover she'd been set well out of sight and covered with natural brush to hide her from predators. She got up, blushing even though nobody was around to see her naked, and ran quickly for her cave.

Once there she got some spare clothing out of her pack. "This is outrageous," she fumed. "How could I get beat by a demon mage?"

 _Why did he leave you alive… and cover you to protect you from wild animals?_ She tried to ignore the question that was beginning to nag at her mind.

"Only one thing to do… I'll go back to the village and see if anyone there saw them."

She quickly headed for the village.

 **~A remote forest in Fiore~**

"Well, we're here." Gray said, taking his pack off and sitting down with his back against a tree. "This is where the demon is. Now what?"

"Now we wait for that demoness Mira and Natsu to get here." Mira said. "But that means we have to stay close to the demon, or we might miss them."

"Oh great." Gray said. "So now we have to find the demon and keep track of it?"

"Yep," Erza said. "And I bought some magic equipment to help us do that." She pulled out a small radar device. "This is attuned to demonic magic, so we'll be able to track the demon without it ever being able to see us."

It wasn't long before the radar picked up the demon's magic signature. It was northwest of the party about a half mile or so.

"We need to get a little closer." Erza said. "We have to stay close enough at all times to get there as soon as there's a sign of Natsu and Mira."

"Fortunately," Gray said, "the only way up here is through that gorge we walked through a while back. So if we stay between that and the demon, we'll be sure to see them."

"Excellent thinking Gray!" Erza beamed. "And I can mark that location on the radar map so we can always make sure we're in the right place…"

And so they waited.

 **~A small village in Northern Fiore, about a two day walk from Erza~**

"Izuul, I need to know if you saw any demons come through."

"No," Izuul responded truthfully. "I haven't seen any demons in this town.

"They must have stopped though," Laina growled. "I injured the she-devil. The male would've been looking for help…" She stopped, looked at the old man, and thrust past him into the hut.

Mirajane lay sleeping on a mat in the back of the hut.

"What is the meaning of this?" Laina glared at the old healer.

"Laina, she's not a demon. She's a human mage." The old man said. "And her friend was also a human mage. A human mage who exhausted his body to get her to this village before the poison's effects were irreversible. And who left you alive," he added.

Laina started to move toward Mira, but the healer blocked her path.

"This is a house of healing. If you cause death here, I will report you to the council."

She turned to glare at the old man. "You wouldn't…"

Izuul returned her glare. "Yes, Laina, I would. I'm done treating you with kid gloves... For 13 years you've roamed these forests, killing demons and humans indiscriminately. You didn't care who they were. Didn't care if they had family or friends. You just killed them. Now I know what happened to you years ago, but that doesn't make it right."

"They're not humans," she growled. "They're demons."

"No." The old man said firmly. "They're humans. Just like the man that attacked your family was human. He did evil things with his magic, sure. But it's not because of the magic. There are evil mages who use all kinds of different magic."

She tried to step past him, but he blocked her again. "If you want to do anything to her you'll have to kill me first. And believe me when I say that will not go over well with the council."

"Izuul, you've been good to me since childhood, but I'm warning you now to get out of the way."

"No," the old man replied.

Laina's eyes focused on Mira, seething with hatred. "You will not stand in my way, old man. This is your last warning. Move out of my way."

Izuul refused, looking sadly into her eyes. "If you kill me and her, you're no better than the man who killed your family."

"How dare you?!" She raised her dagger and plunged it toward him. The old man closed his eyes, accepting with sadness that his life was done.

But the knife never hit him. He opened his eyes to see the fiery pink-haired dragon slayer gripping Laina in a deadlock. She flailed, but was unable to reach him with her knife as he continued to hold her throat till she passed out.

When she awoke, she was wearing new wrist ornaments. They had a lock, and prevented her from accessing her magic power.

"What is this?" she growled. "Release me at once!"

Izuul shook his head sadly. "I can't do that Laina. You tried to kill me."

"You were standing in the way of justice."

"Justice?" There was anger in the old man's voice. "How many of those mages that you've killed had families. Wives, children, parents, brothers, sisters… who never saw them again. All because of your hatred for one mage. And you call that justice?"

He shook his head sadly. "I should have turned you in long ago…" he said. "I kept hoping that you would come around… that people would just avoid this village…"

She wrenched against the handcuffs. "You can't turn me in! All I've done is rid the world of a few lousy demons. Their families should thank me! I got rid of the greatest stain on their live!"

"Listen to you," Izuul replied. "All these years hating that man, and look what's happened. You've become the man that you hated."

He then left her in the cell, ignoring her threats and angry retorts, and returned to his medicine hut.

Mirajane's eyes were open, though her body was still weak from the after-effects of the poison. "I'm sorry about Laina," she said, sincerely.

The old man looked out his window. "This is something I should've done years ago…" he said. "I knew in my heart that she wasn't recovering – that she was just moving further and further down the path of evil. But I kept hoping… wishing that she would come around…" There were tears in his eyes.

"After Laina's parents died, I took her into my house. Taught her about medicine. She was like a daughter to me…"

He choked back tears, "but she could never let go of the hatred… And that hatred grew to encompass all mages who could use take over on demon souls. When she came back with her devil slayer magic, she was little more than a demon herself."

"There's always hope," Mirajane said quietly. "Even when the hour seems darkest, there's always hope for the future. I know several mages who turned from following a dark path. Perhaps with the right supervision and counsel, she will eventually do the same."

"I hope so…" said the old man, tears in his eyes.

And Mirajane's eyes closed again as she fell asleep again.

 **~5 days later~**

Erza glared at nobody in particular. "We've been here for almost a week, and there's no sign of them yet… Could first master have miscalculated?"

"Well, there was an 12.1% margin of error…" Lucy muttered.

"I know that!" Erza said. "But first master is never wrong… At least, almost never." She remembered the 3 way battle with Minerva and Kagura in the grand magic games that Mavis failed to predict.

"Maybe they came here earlier?" Gray suggested.

"No way!" Erza rounded on him. "The demon's still here, which means they haven't been."

"Oh yeah, I guess that's right…" Gray muttered.

"I'm tired of eating berries and fish… I want real food," Lucy said.

"Stop complaining," Erza said. "I think it's quite good, personally."

"Of course you do. You cook it." Gray muttered.

"Are you saying you want a turn cooking?" Erza glared.

"No," Gray sweat-dropped.

"Then don't complain about it."

"Still," Erza wondered aloud. "If first master's calculations were right, they should've arrived at this location only a day or two after us…"

 **~About a 2 day walk away, in a small village~**

"See you later!" Natsu called back to the village residents, as they waved him and Mira off with a smile. Happy walked alongside them, waving and smiling as well.

"I wonder what'll happen to Laina," Mirajane mused.

"The council will probably put her in a rehab for society program…" Natsu said with a shrug. "She'll get counseling, guidance, all that kind of stuff… And hopefully she'll stop killing people just because they can use take over."

"Yeah…" Mira said. "I could tell Izuul was really torn up about that though…"

"No surprise there," Natsu replied. "The old man did say she was like a daughter to him."

"So how far do we have to travel now, Mira?" Happy asked.

"It's about 2 days walk to our next destination," Mira replied. "We'll have to travel through a small town on the way, but it's really remote. It's unlikely we'll run into any guild members there…"

"So we can stay for a couple nights then?" Happy said. "I want a nice fish restaurant."

"We'll see." Mira said. "Maybe if this goes well, we can stay in town after we're done…"

"Great!" Natsu said. "I'm all fired up!"

 **~2 days later, back in town~**

"Yes sir," Izuul said to the council representative, leading the way to the town jail. "She's in here…"

They got to the cell and he gasped. Instead of the fiery devil slayer, the jailer sat in the cell, his pants around his ankles, his hands cuffed behind him, and a pair of panties stuffed in his mouth.

"Well she was in here…" He sighed.

 **~In the forest, north of town~**

"Are we almost there?" Happy complained. "We barely stopped long enough for lunch…"

"I just have a bad feeling about this location…" Mira said. "I feel like we need to get in and out as quick as possible."

Suddenly Natsu stopped, sniffing the air.

"What is it Natsu?"

"I smell Erza…" Natsu said. "And Gray, and Lucy… They're right between us and the demon."

"I knew there was something bad about this location…" Mira said with a growl. "How do we get out of this mess?"

"We could always just explain things to them," Natsu said.

Mira thought for several moments. Finally she said. "I have an idea."

 **~A little ways north~**

"They're not coming…" Lucy whispered to Gray. "They should've been here days ago if they were coming."

"Keep it down," Gray whispered really quietly. "She has great hearing when she's obsessive…"

"Are you two talking about me again?!" Erza glared, looking up from her cooking.

"No ma'am!"

Suddenly a demon flew over their heads from their south.

"I thought you said the demon was still northeast of us, Gray." Erza said. Gray was in charge of watching the radar while she cooked.

"It was!" Gray said. "It didn't move."

"Wait… Now it's showing two demons. What the hell's going on?"

They looked at the radar. There were indeed two blips on the radar screen.

Suddenly one of the blips disappeared, leaving only one again.

"That's really weird…" Lucy said.

"Maybe it's on the fritz," Gray said.

Suddenly the demon flew over their heads, headed south and slightly west.

"Where is it going now?" Erza demanded.

"I don't know," Gray said, watching it on the radar. "It stopped about a mile south of us… Wait – it just disappeared."

"IT DISAPPEARED?!" Erza yelled.

Gray cringed. "Look for yourself!" He said. "One minute it was there, now it's not."

Erza took the radar, staring at it. "Something's very wrong here…" she growled. "We'll go to its last known location and scout from there."

The team did indeed scout the forest till nightfall, but didn't find a sign of the vanished demon.

"Alright…" Erza glared. "We'll camp here for the night and go back to town. Maybe they know something there."

 **~The next morning~**

"Man, why did we have to get up so early?" Lucy groaned as they trudged into town.

"Because something's totally not right with this, and we're gonna' find out what." Erza growled. "That bitch has something to do with this. I just know it."

They sighed. She was an obsessive one.

"The first place to stop should probably be the inn," she said. Then trailed off. A silver-haired beauty was coming out of the inn, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"MIRAAA!" Erza roared, sprinting toward the inn. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY NATSU?!"

"Did you say your Natsu?" Mirajane's eyes flashed angrily.

Erza requipped to her purgatory armor. "You heard me, bitch."

Mira transformed used take over with her Sitri soul. "Bring it on…"

Erza rushed forward to attack, but Mira suddenly changed back to her human form, cowering by the door. "Natsu! Help!" She cried, suddenly weeping and sounding terrified. "Erza's trying to kill me!"

The dragon slayer emerged from the inn and stepped in front of the silver-haired mage, who clung to his neck. "Oy, Erza! What's this about?"

Erza stopped just in time to avoid impaling the dragon slayer. "Get out of my way, Natsu," she said firmly.

"Not until you tell me what's happening."

"What's happening is that this bitch turned the whole guild against you – all so she could spend some time alone with you in the wilderness." Erza's eyes promised murder to the silver-haired mage.

"I already know that," Natsu said. "Though it wasn't actually her… It was Seilah taking control of her. She reversed the macro as soon as she knew."

"Natsu, this demoness has you under her spell. You need to move out of the way, now." Erza growled.

"I'm sorry Erza, but I can't let you hurt Mira," Natsu said, putting himself between her and the silver-haired mage clinging to him.

Gray and Lucy sweat-dropped as they watched the exchange.

Just then Happy came out of the hotel. "Are you guys ready to leave yet?" He blinked looking around. "Hi Gray and Lucy. Erza, why do you look so mad?"

Erza just stared at the cat.

"You know Natsu," Happy said, forgetting his question and turning back to the dragon slayer. "Next time we sleep in an inn you're paying for a separate room for me. I'm exhausted… Mira was moaning so loud I couldn't sleep!"

Erza's eyes popped out of her head, and she plunged forward, trying to stab around Natsu with her sword.

"You conniving bitch!" she screamed. "How dare you?"

Gray and Lucy tried to hold the furious mage back, but she broke their grip easily, trying furiously to get around Natsu.

"Natsu!" Mira cowered behind him, whimpering.

"What's wrong with you Erza?" Natsu said, still using his body to shield the silver-haired mage from her rage. "I've never seen you so upset before."

Erza kept going, not even hearing the question. Her eyes were red with rage as she kept going faster, faster, trying to find a route around the dragon slayer to her target. "Fuck you bitch!" She yelled. People were beginning to stare.

"Agh!" Natsu grunted, gripping a bleeding slash that appeared in his side.

That seemed to bring the red-haired mage back to her senses. "Natsu!" She cried, suddenly in her nurse outfit. "I'm sorry! Please let me tend that for you!"

"I think it's best if we leave…" Natsu said. As they headed off, Mira stuck her tongue out at Erza.

"This isn't over bitch," Erza muttered as the dragon slayer and his lover departed, Happy close on their heels. "I'll figure something out somehow."


	6. Not a Day to Remember

I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters. This is just a fanfiction.

Here's the next chapter...

* * *

"Erza sure was crazy back there," Natsu said as they trudged through the forest. "I really don't understand it. Why was she so mad at you? I mean, Seilah used the time to take over and macro the guild, so it's not like it was really you…"

"Because I have the heart of the man she loves…" muttered Mira quietly.

Natsu stopped, and Mira suddenly remembered his keen hearing. "You think Erza loves me?"

"Umm… maybe…" The silver-haired mage blushed.

"I doubt it," Natsu said after thinking about it a moment. "After all, she's always been all crazy about Jellal."

"Natsu…" Mira didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I don't know if I should tell you this, but Erza's thing for Jellal ended a long time ago. All of us girls – well, except Lucy, who's clueless – noticed that Erza had her eye on you."

"Is that right?"

Mira couldn't help smiling. "But even without that, the way that she was behaving in town is more than enough evidence for how she feels."

"What should we do?" Natsu asked.

"Best thing to do is give her time to cool off," Mira said. "Which is fine, because we've got one more demon to round up before we start heading back."

 **~4 days later~**

Erza slammed the guild door open and stalked across the floor. Gray and Lucy quickly found a table as far away from the requip mage as they could get.

"She didn't find Natsu, did she?" Levy asked from the next table.

"Oh, she found him." Gray answered quietly.

"Oh…" Levy turned back to her table. "Even worse, then…"

"What's wrong Erza?" Makarov asked from behind the bar. "Did Natsu not show up?"

"Oh, he showed up… with that slut Mirajane." The redheaded mage scowled.

Mavis and Makarov both sweat-dropped. "Oh… Then I take it…"

"The bitch cheated!" Erza yelled. Then, "Give me a beer."

Makarov passed a beer down the counter. Erza took a sip.

"I can't believe that conniving bitch slut," she said, taking a larger swig of beer. "She never would have won if she'd fought fair and square." She downed the rest of the beer in one gulp and pushed the mug forward. "Another!"

"Say, what's Erza all worked up about?" Gajeel asked Levy.

"Mira and Natsu are together." Levy said.

"Oh… what's the problem with that?" Gajeel asked. "I mean, sure I always thought Salamander would go for Lucy, but Mirajane's a nice girl too."

"It's not about that…" Levy watched the requip mage down her third beer. "Erza wanted Natsu to be with her."

"Huh?" The dragon slayer looked confused.

"Oh, go back to sleep." Levy said.

Lucy and Gray sweat-dropped. Erza rarely drank, so when she did the alcohol tended to affect her more than other people. And she was already on her fourth beer. "Umm… Erza, don't you think maybe you should take it easy?" Lucy suggested.

"Take it easy?!" The requip mage said loudly. "Take it easy?! How can I take it easy when my rival just won our most important battle?! Don't tell me to take it easy!" She started on her fifth beer.

She was on her seventh when the beer finally hit her, all at once. "Hey Lushy," she slurred. "Do you shink Natshu and I shdill have a shansh?"

Lucy was scared, but she was honest. "No Erza. Natsu's nothing if not loyal… He's made his choice, and nothing will change that."

"It'sh sho hard do acshept whad dad meansh…" Erza said, getting teary-eyed. "My Nadshu… Gone forever…"

"Drunk Erza's a lot less scary than obsessive Erza…" Gray whispered.

"Looshy… I need a hug…" The requip mage staggered toward the blonde girl, arms outstretched.

"You need to get home," Lucy said as she was caught in the red-haired girl's arms. "Come on, I'll walk you there…"

"Shanksh Looshy…" Erza slurred, tears flowing freely. "You're a grayd friend…" The two started off for her home.

 **~In a forest, a long way from the guild~**

"This is the last one before we head back, Natsu…" Mira said as the two (and Happy) set up camp.

"Is that right?" Natsu said. "Only 5 demons in the whole kingdom of Fiore?"

Mira giggled. "There are probably many more demons, Natsu." She said. "Surely you remember Galuna Island."

"I think so," the dragon slayer said, looking like he really didn't.

"Well, as Take Over mages, we only go after demons that are destructive and dangerous," she said.

"Is that right?"

"It's kind of like going after other mage guilds," Mira said. "We don't fight guilds that aren't doing anything bad."

"Oh. That makes sense."

"But anyway, Natsu, I was thinking…"

"Huh?"

"Let's get married when we get back!"

"Huh?" Natsu blinked. "Aren't we kinda' already married?"

"Well, we're lovers," she said, "but we never had a wedding."

Natsu sweat-dropped. Weddings weren't really his thing. "Is it really important?"

"It is to me," Mira said, giving him her most adorable, pouting look. "A wedding is a girl's biggest dream!"

"Is that right?" The dragon slayer didn't look sure.

"You'll do it for me, won't you Natsu?" Mira was suddenly close, her arms wrapped around him. Her warm breasts, now clad in her sexiest bikini, pressed against his chest, and her lips were only inches from his.

"Of course Mira," the dragon slayer said before their lips met.

Happy found a place to sleep well out of sight of the couple.

 **~A few days later, back at the guild~**

"They're really coming back?" Elfman asked. He and Lisanna were with the rest of the guild, gathered around the master.

"According to this letter they are." Makarov looked at Erza, who didn't seem to react to the news. The guild had just received a letter from a nearby town that Natsu and Mira were headed back on foot, due to the dragon slayer's aversion to transportation.

The letter had also explained Seilah's actions in taking control to cast macro. The guild wasn't happy about it, but they were willing to accept and forgive since Mirajane was one of their comrades.

"And one more thing…" Makarov said, trying hard not to look at Erza. "They want to start planning their wedding as soon as they get back."

"A wedding?" All the girls in the guild instantly got all sparkly eyed. Lisanna especially. "My sister's getting married!"

Erza's face remained hard for a few minutes, but finally she smiled. "A guild wedding, huh?"

"Are you really ok with that?" Lucy sweat-dropped.

Erza turned to her, her eyes all sparkly. "Come on Lucy, what girl could resist the excitement of a wedding?"

Lucy, Gray, Levy, Makarov, and Mavis all breathed a sigh of relief.

"I can't wait to help plan!" Erza said, her eyes still sparkling.

"Are you sure they'll want your help?" Gray sweat-dropped.

"I'll apologize to Mira." Erza said. "She'll understand how I was feeling! We've been rivals for a long time, after all."

"I suppose so…" Gray muttered.

"I can't wait for them to get back!" Erza said, still sparkly-eyed. "I'm gonna go look at wedding dresses right now."

After she left Makarov sighed. "That went a lot better than expected," he said.

"Well, she did have three days to recover…" Mavis said.

"Two of which she was too drunk to even be coherent," Makarov said.

"This is Erza, after all," Mavis smiled.

That drew a laugh from everyone who was near the conversation.

 **~A week later~**

"I can't believe they're actually back!" Lisanna grinned as she walked through town with her brother. The two were looking for wedding attire, since both would take part in the ceremony.

"They've been back for three days," Elfman said. "And now I can't wait for the wedding…"

"Mira-nee will move away though…" Lisanna said sadly.

"Can't happen too soon!" Elfman said.

Lisanna looked at him, surprised. "She's our sister!"

"Your room isn't next to hers!" Elfman said.

Lisanna covered her mouth, half smiling, half blushing. "Oh…"

"She could be a little quieter about it," Elfman continued. "Every night the last thing I hear before finally being able to fall asleep is my sister moaning and screaming. It's not a man!"

Lisanna covered a giggle with her hand. "Well, I guess I can see your point," she said.

"Not a man…" Elfman growled again as they headed into a clothing store.

 **~At the bridal shop~**

"It's no problem at all Mira!" Erza smiled brightly, her eyes sparkling. "I know Natsu doesn't have much saved up, and the two of you will want a house. So I'll buy your wedding dress and your rings for you… It should help you out a little, at least!"

"Thanks Erza," Mira smiled, still a little surprised. "I'm glad you're ok with this now…"

The two had already had several lengthy discussions over the last few days. Both had apologized concerning their behavior, and forgiven each other.

"Well," Erza said. "My only choices were to make peace with you or kill you… I figured the latter was a sure way to make Natsu hate me for the rest of my life."

Mira couldn't tell if she was joking or serious.

"Here comes the dressmaker!"

The shop's owner, a tall, slender woman with dark brown hair came in. "Which one of you is Mirajane?"

"That would be me," Mira said with her sweetest smile.

"Alright, let's talk about your dress!"

The two began going over the details of the wedding dress, with Erza listening closely, her eyes sparkling.

After all, what girl doesn't like a wedding?

 **~At a men's wedding shop~**

"I have to wear _this_?!" Natsu glared at the tuxedo as though it were his enemy.

"Yes, and Mira insisted that you wear a white one, with a black shirt." Gray said.

Natsu continued to glare at the tux. "I don't even know how to put one of those on," he said, motioning toward the bow tie.

"Someone will be there to help you," Gray said.

"How'd I let Mira talk me into this?" The dragon slayer growled, dropping into one of the chairs.

Gray just laughed.

"Ah!" A man came around the corner. "You must be Natsu, muah. Come on, we've got to measure you, muah!"

"Measure?..." Natsu asked.

"For your tuxedo! It must fit perfectly, Muah."

"Weddings are such a pain…" grunted the dragon slayer as he followed the man.

 **~The next day, deep in the forest~**

"I don't see why you'd limit yourself to one girl, Natsu." Gildarts and the dragon slayer were breathing heavily. They'd been fighting for almost 5 hours, with the end result being a draw. "I can't even count the women I've loved."

Natsu sweat-dropped. "Is that really love?..."

"Sure it is!" Gildarts grinned. "Why, right now if I dropped in on one of them, I'm sure she'd give it up again happily!"

"But I stop giving it to them after they hit 30," he added, winking at the dragon slayer. "Then it's time to go find some fresh booty."

"Well, I'm happy with Mira," Natsu said. "But thanks for the advice."

"Still," he sighed. "I have a long way to go before I'm powerful enough to control E.N.D…"

"It could take you years…" Gildarts said, serious again. "To acquire that level of magic power you would have to rival Zeref himself…"

Natsu sweat-dropped.

"Of course, you are his brother," Gildarts grinned. "Which means it might be possible."

"Ugh, don't remind me…" Natsu sighed. "I'm not entirely sure I want to be his brother… plus, it makes me feel old."

"You were born 700 years before me," Gildarts laughed. "And you call me an old man…"

"Well, I gotta go." Natsu said. "Mira should be done at the bridal shop right about now, and she insisted I go with her to pick out the food…"

"That's the one part you don't want to miss," Gildarts laughed again.

"Same time tomorrow?" Natsu said.

"Let's do it."

 **~A couple weeks later~**

"I can't believe the wedding is in two days!" Mira said, pacing the guild. "The dress is ready, right Erza?"

"I'm picking it up from the final alterations in 20 minutes," Erza reassured the silver-haired mage.

"I hope the guild stays intact for two more days… Oh, I should've done it at the temple…" Mira buried her head in her hands.

"Don't worry about it," Lucy said. "The guild's survived this long. 2 more days is nothing."

"What if Natsu doesn't like the dress?..."

"He'll love it."

"I wonder if Natsu is freaking out right now too… He probably is…"

 _Actually,_ Lucy sweat-dropped, _I somehow doubt it_.

 **~Deep in the forest~**

"Yeah! I beat you that time!"

Gildarts groaned as he got to his feet. "You really pack quite a punch now."

Natsu grinned, then sighed. "But I still have such a long way to go."

"Don't worry, you'll get there…" Gildarts laughed.

"Same time tomorrow?" Natsu asked.

"I don't think so," Gildarts said. "You should take a day off before the wedding."

"Oh yeah, that's right." Natsu grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "Time went by fast…"

"Welcome to the rest of your life…"

 **~2 days later~**

"I can't believe this is happening!" Lucy said, her eyes glued to the front where Natsu stood, actually looking super-hot in his white tuxedo and bowtie, offset by his black undershirt. The scarf was nearby. Mira had somehow convinced him to discard it for the wedding.

Erza's eyes were shining as she looked at Natsu, her eyes glued to the dragon slayer.

"Are you sure you're alright with this?" Gray whispered to her.

"I had to make peace with it…" She replied. "He's marrying the bitch, even if she is evil."

"So you haven't really forgiven her…" Lucy sweat-dropped.

"Sure I have, but that doesn't mean we're not rivals."

All heads turned as the bride started down the aisle, moving up to the front where Natsu awaited her. She was accompanied by Makarov, who was giving her away in place of her father.

When she got to the front, Lucy gasped. Her dress, starting from the end of the long train, began to slowly disappear. As the local priest began the ceremony, muffled gasps went up from all around the guild.

"What's happening?!" Lucy whispered to Gray, who just shrugged.

"Ever heard of disappearing ink?" Erza grinned. "It's the same idea…"

The two gaped at her. "That's right," she said. "I spent all my savings on this, but it's so going to be worth it…"

"What did you do… and don't they notice it up front?"

"That's the best part," Erza grinned. "I bought the dress and the rings, and paid for the decorations and everything… The guy I paid to do it wrote a time-triggered rune spell on the dress. To everybody out here, it's like the dress isn't even there…" She motioned to the silver-haired mage, who appeared to be performing the ceremony in her sexy white panties and lacy bra.

"But anyone in the ceremony area won't see the effects until the ring goes on her finger." The red-haired mage grinned.

"And she's the one that's evil?..." Lucy gaped.

Around the guild, guys were getting nosebleeds, staring. Girls were blushing furiously, wanting to say something and wondering why Mira was still so calm and collected.

They pulled the ring out, and as Natsu slipped Mira's ring on her finger the whole ceremony changed.

"What the fuck?!" Mira exclaimed, instinctively trying to cover herself with her arms. Sure, she'd been seen in a bikini before, but it wasn't at her own wedding, in front of a crowd.

"Freed!" Makarov yelled. The green-haired mage came running immediately. "This is some kind of a rune spell. What's going on here?"

Freed analyzed the spell. "It is a rune spell," he said, "and the guy who did it was highly skilled. But not as skilled as me. Give me about 5 minutes and I can reverse it…"

Tears were coming to Mira's eyes as Erza chuckled evilly in the third row back. This wasn't at all how she imagined her wedding going.

Natsu responded by clutching the silver-haired mage to his chest, turning her away from the guild. "Don't cry, Mira…"

But the silver-haired mage couldn't stop. The tears gushed from her eyes, leaving a visible pool on his white tuxedo. "This was my big day…" she wailed. "How could this happen?..."

Natsu continued to hold her as Freed worked to reverse the rune spell. After a few more minutes the dress appeared again, causing some of the males to cry in disappointment.

It was about 10 more minutes before Mira could compose herself enough to finish the ceremony. Just as the two were kissing, the doors burst open and an angry girl with blood-red hair burst into the guild.

"Found you demons!" She growled, glaring daggers at Natsu. "I'm gonna kill you both this time…"


	7. And Then

I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters.

Here's the next installment of the story. Hope you like it.

* * *

Erza rose from her feet, glaring daggers at the intruder. But Mira was faster.

"You…" Mira glared at the intruder. "You dare crash my wedding? Threaten me and my lover?"

She instantly transformed into Sitri.

"Too easy!" Laina traced lines in the air again, and a poison cloud appeared around Mira.

But the mage was already gone. "You really thought I'd fall for the same trick twice?"

The whole guild sweat-dropped as Mira hit Laina with all her might, knocking the red-haired mage through the guild doors and several meters out.

"First you try to kill me. You try to kill my love. Then you track me down and attack me on my wedding day?!" Her eyes were on fire as she took out all her anger over the day's events on the girl, pounding her with her fists. "Devil slayer my ass! More like weak ass punk-murderer!"

Laina tried to get control back, but the Sitri soul was too quick and powerful. She couldn't even touch her with her daggers, and without time to draw the magic circles she couldn't use the poison attacks.

"You fucked with me one too many times!" Mira yelled, twisting her around so she was on her belly. She grabbed a handful of the girl's blood-red hair and rubbed her face in the dirt. "How does it taste?" She yelled.

The rest of the guild just watched, speechless, as Demon Mirajane continued grinding the girl's face in the dirt, pulling her up just long enough to let her breathe. "You're way out of your league bitch!" She shoved her face back in the dirt.

"That's enough Mira." Makarov said. Mira, still transformed to Sitri, looked at the master dubiously for a few minutes, as though pondering whether to obey him or not. Then, with a final shove, she pushed the girl's face into the ground one more time.

Makarov clicked handcuffs on as the girl came up sputtering. "Deliver her to the magic council," he told one of the guys standing by.

Mirajane returned to her human form, wedding dress and all, and returned to the ceremony area. "Now where were we?" She kissed Natsu again, long and passionately.

As they were heading out, Mira stopped in front of Erza's row to kiss Natsu again. "Natsu, my love…" she purred, loud enough for the whole row to hear her, "I can't wait to get home and get out of this dress."

Natsu grinned. "I can't wait either."

"I hope you're ready, because when we get home we're only stopping to eat…" Faces around her turned red as the silver-haired mage began detailing some of the things she wanted Natsu to do to her that night.

"Wow, you must really be horny," the dragon slayer said. "But we're not going anywhere standing here like this."

"I suppose you're right," Mirajane sighed. "Carry me down the aisle, my love?"

Natsu picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck. "Maybe you can give me a baby tonight…" she said, as Erza seethed in her seat.

As soon as the bride and groom were gone, the rest of the guild started cleaning up the decorations. Soon it looked like a guild hall again, with slightly battered tables. Cana was instantly back at the bar, a keg to her lips. Gajeel fell asleep.

The guild party afterward was awesome, but Natsu and Mira skipped out for most of it. It hadn't been the wedding Mira had envisioned, but at least it had still been a memorable day in it's own way.

 **~The next day~**

When Mira and Natsu finally came in to the guild, around noon, Erza was waiting near the door.

"I'm… I'm sorry I messed with your wedding dress." Erza said, barely getting the words out.

Mira looked up and saw Makarov watching from the bar. "I forgive you," she said aloud. Then, under her breath, "no you're not… but don't worry – your big day is coming, assuming Jellal still wants you…"

Erza's face turned red with anger as the two continued further into the guild. Elfman and Lisanna both congratulated their sister again. Elfman seemed happier than he had been in the last few weeks.

"So what now?" Mira asked.

"More training!" Natsu grinned. "I'm still not nearly strong enough yet!"

"I'll help you train Natsu!" Erza called from the back of the guild. "We haven't had a serious fight for a long time."

Mira glared at her. Natsu rubbed the back of his head. "I was actually thinking I'd fight Gildarts again."

"Gildarts left right after your wedding," Makarov said.

"That jerk! He promised he'd fight me today!"

"Stop making so much noise!" Gajeel yelled from his table.

Levy was still in the afterglow of the wedding, imagining standing across from the iron dragon slayer as he slipped a ring on her finger…

"I guess I'll just go out to the forest to train then," Natsu said.

 **~2 days later, in the new council prison~**

Laina heard screams in the prison halls. Then silence. She tensed up, wishing she could slip out of her anti-magic cuffs.

Suddenly a tall mage with silver hair and glasses came into view. There was a fire in his eyes as he looked into her cell.

"So you're the girl who crashed the Fairy Tail wedding." He opened her cell.

She didn't answer, waiting to find out what the man wanted. "You've got plenty of raw power, but you lack discipline." The guy said. "But it seems like there are some Fairy Tail mages you don't like… So I think we could work together."

"What's your name?" she asked.

The mage smiled. "Not until I know whether we'll be working together, Laina…"

"You know my name?"

"Of course. You crashed the biggest party in Fiore…" He held up a news article. "Did you really think it wouldn't make it to the news?"

"Are you at least going to unlock me?"

"Are you going to work with me?"

She sighed. "Alright… I don't have anything particular against Fairy Tail, but if they're a guild that harbors demons, they deserve whatever they're going to get."

The man smiled. "Good." He unlocked her chains. "My name is Rustyrose, and my grudge against Fairy Tail goes way back…"

 **~3 days later, at the guild~**

"Phew," Erza came back in from her latest request. "Haven't had such a challenging request in a long time."

"Erza, you're back." Lucy grinned. "How was it?"

"Great!" Erza said. "I feel like I need to train more. My magic's starting to lose some of its edge."

"How's Jellal?"

"Excuse me?" Erza rounded on her, her good mood suddenly gone.

"Er… Nothing?" Lucy looked confused.

"Why would you ask me about Jellal, Lucy?..." Erza growled.

"Er… it's just, I heard you were sneaking out to see Jellal on your quests…" Lucy twirled her fingers in her hair. "And you were going to announce your relationship to the guild soon…"

"I heard that too," Gajeel said, waking up from his nap. "Rumor is that you and Jellal are already planning a wedding date."

"Have you… you know… done it yet?" Levy squeaked with excitement.

"I AM NOT DATING, SEEING, OR ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED WITH JELLAL!" Erza roared. "Lucy!" she grabbed the girl by the shirt. "Where did you hear this?"

"Nowhere…" Lucy looked down, twirling her hair nervously.

"Levy?" The mage glared at her.

"Uh… I can't remember," the bluenette smiled nervously.

"Gajeel?"

"I dunno. It's just the talk going around…"

 _I'm pretty sure I know, but I was hoping one of these louses would confirm it._ Erza decided to be more direct. "You heard it from Mirajane, didn't you?"

"Mira who?" Lucy asked innocently. Levy just shrunk further into her table, and Gajeel just looked confused.

"Erza!" Natsu grinned as he came in. "I just heard! Congratulations! I'm happy you and Jellal could get back together."

"NNNNNNNN! I'M GONNA KILL THAT BITCH!" Erza stormed out of the guild.

At the bar, Makarov sweat-dropped. Never a dull moment at Fairy Tail…

 **~Northern Fiore, deep in the forest~**

"Alright Laina, I think it's time you met my associates," Rustyrose said, bringing the redhead forward. There were 3 men sitting in a cave around a small fire. One of them was exceptionally large.

"Gentlemen, this is Laina. Laina, these are my associates. Ivan Dreyar…" One of the men sporting a long beard tilted his head in acknowledgement, "Kain Hikaru…" The large man grunted, "and Bluenote Stinger." The other, a muscular mage with dark blue hair, looked at her appraisingly.

"She wouldn't last ten seconds in a fight against the Salamander," Bluenotes grunted.

"I'm only interested in the two demons," Laina said.

"Demons?" Kain looked at Rustyrose. "I hadn't heard that Fairy Tail was harboring demons…"

"She's talking about Mirajane Strauss and Natsu Dragneel," Rusty explained. "She sees anyone with demon souls in them as demons."

"Ah…" Bluenote looked at her again. "But Mirajane and Natsu are both powerful mages. She wouldn't last 10 seconds against either of them."

"Which is why she's here." Rustyrose smirked.

Then he turned to Laina. "Why did you lose to Natsu and to Mirajane?" he asked her.

"Because my poison didn't affect Natsu, and Mirajane was too fast in her demon form…"

"Wrong. You lost because you've spent the last 13 years wandering around your forest, picking on whatever demon or low level mage with demon souls happened to be wandering by. You weren't training your magic. You weren't fighting strong opponents. You lost because for 13 years you've never once had to overcome a challenge in battle."

She glared, but Rustyrose continued. "That's going to stop here. We're going to help you train that devil slayer magic you possess. Then, when you're strong enough, we'll take out the Fairies… one by one."

"You see," he turned back to the others who were present. "Fairy Tail's strength is in their numbers. If we can separate them, we can take them down one at a time…"

 **~At Fairy Tail, by the request board~**

"Happy… All these requests look boring."

"Aye sir!"

"I'm tired of training… I want to go on a request to fight worthy opponents."

"What about this one?" Happy pointed to an S-class quest paying 2 million jewel.

"It's just a little dark guild…" Natsu said. "There's probably not even anyone there that's a challenge."

"So do some training on the way," said Mira, coming up behind and wrapping him in a hug. "At least it'll be something different."

"I guess you're right," the dragon slayer said. "This'll take us up north of Sabertooth though…"

"Aye Sir!" Happy said.

"We could pay them a visit," Mira said. "It's been a while since we've seen Sting and Rogue…"

"Yeah! Maybe they'll want to fight!" Natsu grinned.

"I wouldn't count on it," Mira said, sweat-dropping. "The last time you fought Sting and Rogue at the guild, you demolished half of it…"

"Is that right?"

 **~Deep in the forest~**

"Nnn…" Laina grunted in pain, trying unsuccessfully to even push herself a little off the ground.

"Take it a little easy Bluenote." Rustyrose said. "The idea is to increase her strength. Not kill her."

Bluenote looked at him with dark eyes. "If this one wants to fight Natsu Dragneel, she has to learn to fly."

"Sometimes they have to learn in small steps," Rustyrose said. "I think that's enough battle training for right now."

Bluenote sighed, releasing the effects of his gravity. "As you wish…"

Laina sat up, then leaned back against a tree, exhausted.

"I'm not sure I can do this…" She said.

"Do you want to destroy the two demons?"

"Yes…"

"Believe me when I tell you that you won't be able to in the condition you're in now. It won't be easy, but nothing worth attaining is."

He let that sink in for a few minutes. "Now, for the next part of your training, you need to get faster.

"Faster?..."

"According to the news article, eyewitnesses said your attacks couldn't even hit Mirajane in her demon form. You can't take down a demon that your attacks can't even reach."

"So, let's start."

Four small, steel balls suddenly appeared in the air around her. In front of her, a similar substance with a basically human shape appeared. Before she could react or ask questions, one of the balls flew at her. She tried to dodge, but only managed to deflect part of the blow.

Another ball shot at her chest. She blocked it with her dagger, but her block wasn't fast enough, once again only deflecting it so that it hit her shoulder.

"Your goal is to get a hit on the person…" Rustyrose said as he watched. "Once you get there, we can move on to the next level."

Another steel orb flew at her, followed by another in quick succession. She leapt back to give herself more time to deflect, and managed to deflect one fully. The other glanced off her thigh.

 _I'll never be able to get to that_ , she grunted as another steel orb impacted her side, bruising her ribs.

Bluenote came up beside Rustyrose. "I thought the object was to not kill her."

Rustyrose smiled. "Pain is the fastest teacher… I don't expect her to make it to the target today."

Laina groaned, falling back again as a steel orb bounced off the side of her leg. She was desperately trying to dodge, willing herself to go faster. But still the best she could do was deflect damage away from vital areas.

When Rustyrose finally stopped, she felt like her whole body was one giant bruise. She didn't even get up for several minutes, beginning to doubt her decision to come with this man.

"No time to rest!" Rustyrose said. "It's time to start practicing your magic now."

Even though her whole body ached, Laina forced herself to get up and begin her magic training.

 **~At Sabertooth~**

"Natsu!" Sting grinned. "It's great to see you again!"

"You too!" Natsu grinned.

"Oy Natsu!" Rogue said, coming back in. "It's been a while!"

"You guys wanna rumble?"

"Maybe later…" Sting sweat-dropped. "Our guild still hasn't fully recovered from the last time we fought."

Mirajane giggled.

"Oh, hi Mira." Sting grinned. Then he turned to Natsu. "Why wasn't I invited to the wedding?"

"Umm…" Natsu rubbed the back of his head.

"It was my fault," Mira said. "I was handling all that stuff… Natsu's not really good with planning…"

"I heard we missed quite the party," Rogue said. "The news said some psycho crashed your wedding and tried to kill you."

"Let's just say it wasn't the wedding I hoped for." The wedding talk was bringing up bad memories for the silver-haired mage.

"I should probably tell you Yukino's a little jealous," Rogue said. "When she found out you and Natsu were married she wouldn't talk to anyone for 3 days..."

Mira sweat-dropped.

"So what brings you up here anyway?" Sting asked.

"We're on a request just a little north of here." Natsu grinned. "Thought we'd drop in and say hello."

"Just like old times." Rogue said. "But Natsu, be careful up there. Word is there's a dark guild up in those mountains that's on par with what Tartaros used to be."

Natsu's eyes lit up. "Really? Sounds like it could be fun!"

Sting and Rogue both sweat-dropped. "Umm… That's not the point."

Mira smiled. "Thanks for the warning, Rogue. If we need help can we count on Sabertooth?"

"Of course," Sting replied. "But we'll expect some of the reward money."

"Of course," Mirajane smiled sweetly.

"I'm all fired up!" Natsu grinned.

They said their goodbyes, and the two departed for the mountains to the north.


	8. One Step at a Time

I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters. I just write about them.

Ok, so this is a slightly shorter chapter... I didn't have a lot of time to write this weekend, with a big party on Friday night... and Saturday... And... well, you get the picture.

So anyway, here's what I put down when I did have time to write. Hope you enjoy it.

* * *

"When will Juvia get to marry her Gray-sama?" Juvia sat across the table from Gray, her eyes sparkling.

"Just as soon as her Gray-sama hits puberty," Lucy said under her breath to Laki, who burst out laughing.

"What's so funny? Gray rounded on their table.

"Nothing!" Lucy and Laki both said quickly.

Just then the doors opened, and Yukino came into the guild. "Hi Yukino!" Lucy said. "What brings you to Fairy Tail?"

"I was just on my way back from a quest, and I thought I'd stop in to congratulate Natsu-sama and Mirajane." Yukino said, a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Oh – well, they're out on a quest right now." Lucy said. "But how are you? I haven't seen you in forever!"

"I'm doing well," she said, coming to sit by Lucy. Her smile remained, but her eyes were a little sad.

"What's wrong?" The blonde mage asked.

"To be honest… I'm a little jealous…" Yukino said. "I mean, I guess I thought Natsu and I had a special connection ever since that day…"

"Oh really?" Erza was suddenly sitting next to them.

"Umm… yeah," Yukino blushed. "I was hoping to be the one to marry Natsu-sama… so when I heard he and Mirajane were married, well… I guess I took it really hard…"

Erza looked at her with a sad, serious face. "There's something you should know… Let's talk about it outside…"

"Umm… Ok Erza." The celestial spirit mage replied. And the two headed out for their conversation.

 **~In the mountainous region north of Sabertooth~**

"Come on out, dark guild guys!" Natsu yelled.

"That's not going to do any good," Mirajane said. "You're just letting them know where not to go."

"But I'm tired of searching on foot!" The dragon slayer said. "If they're so strong, what're they afraid of anyway?"

"Good question," Mira smirked. "We are only two wizards, after all."

Just then an enormous iron weight, almost 200 feet around, dropped on top of them. Natsu heard the iron make magic just in time to pop into fire dragon king mode. Then the weight descended.

"Afraid of what?" Said a tall, green haired man, clothed in a flashy metal outfit. "A couple weak mages?"

As he turned around, he suddenly became aware of enormous heat pressure. He looked back, and saw that the entire center of the weight had melted away, leaving the two unharmed in the middle.

"Roar of the Fire Dragon King!" Natsu bellowed, shooting a devastating cone of fire at the mage.

"Iron Make: Shield!" A huge block of iron appeared in front of the mage, who then had to jump aside as a good portion of the attack made it through after demolishing the shield.

"Satan Soul: Helphas!" Mirajane transformed, moving to his position in the blink of an eye and blasting him with dark magic. The attack caused some damage, but the mage struck back with an iron sword that clipped her shoulder.

"Secret Technique: Crimson Lotus Exploding Flame Blade!" Natsu hit the mage at full power, knocking him back several yards and into the side of a mountain.

The two mages watched, waiting to see if the fight was over. It took a few minutes, but the other mage eventually got up.

"What's the matter Jan? Looks like you're having trouble…" Another voice said.

"They're both pretty powerful. You take the female. I'll take the pink-haired guy."

As the Iron Make mage turned his attention back to Natsu, Mira squared off against the newcomer, a tall man with jet black hair that came down to his waist.

"You think you can take me by yourself?" Mira said, smirking.

"Of course. You're a demon," the man replied. "And who better to defeat a demon than an angel… Angel soul: Raphael!"

"Shit." Mira instantly transformed to Sitri as the man's appearance changed. His hair became flowing and golden, his eyes a bright red. His clothes armor of pure white with golden trim, and he held a sword of fire in his hand.

In a flash he was on her, and she was barely able to dodge the holy explosion created by his blade. She quickly retaliated with a blast of dark energy, which the mage easily dodged. He pointed his sword at her, and she was surrounded by light.

She quickly got a shield of dark energy up around her, which absorbed most of the blast. She still took some damage. _This guy's got some serious power._ She moved as fast as she could, coming up behind her opponent. She put as much as she could into a blast of dark power at point-blank range.

When the explosion cleared, there was a crater the size of a small city in the ground, and mountains around them were crumbling. Her opponent was still standing at the center, looking a bit bruised.

"So this is the power of a demon prince?" The mage held up his sword at the ready. "I'm disappointed…"

Before Mirajane could react, his sword hit her, enveloping her body in a holy blast before she could fully put up her defenses. She cried out with pain as her body was thrown backwards, but the mage didn't let up. He came on again, his sword arcing in a dozen attacks in the blink of an eye. Mira tried to block all of them, but he was too fast. Several of the shots hit her, causing a lot of damage. She was blown back several yards, hitting the ground hard.

"And now you die!"

 **~Not far away~**

"Iron Make: Serpent Colossus!"

An iron serpent the size of a mountain rose up from the ground in an instant, striking hard and fast at the dragon slayer. Natsu jumped out of the way.

"Roar of the Fire Dragon King!" The serpent exploded into a shower of superheated iron. Natsu promptly gobbled up the large bits that came his way.

"Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade!" The other mage dodged the attack, erecting a huge iron shield to absorb some of the blast.

"Iron Make: Dragon!" An iron dragon sprang up out of the earth, high into the sky.

"Roar of the Fire Dragon!" The attack hit the mage with full force, knocking him back several feet.

Suddenly the dragon came down from the sky at the speed of a meteorite. Natsu jumped out of the way just in time to avoid the brunt of the attack, though the shockwaves knocked him head over heels a hundred meters.

"I'm surprised you managed to dodge that, but still… how many times can you do that?" The iron dragon rose back up into the sky.

Natsu looked up. "Roar of the Fire Dragon King!"

 **~Not far away~**

"Take Over: Mirajane Seilah: Etherious form!"

The other mage jumped back, surprised, as his blade was blocked. As Mirajane rose in Seilah's etherious form, chunks of molten iron began raining from the sky.

"What is this power? Has she summoned hell itself to this battle?" The other mage was so shocked that he let his guard down, just long enough for the etherious's claws to get a full-power strike on him. Mira didn't let up, battering him with a barrage of dark magic, By the time the last of the molten iron had rained down from the sky, Mira had expended her magic power, but her opponent was down for the count.

 **~In the midst of the other battle~**

"How?!" The Iron Make mage gaped as the molten metal rained down on them.

"Never send a dragon to take out a dragon slayer… Fire Dragon King Mode!"

"Fire Dragon King's Demolition Punch!"

"Iron Make: Mountainous Shield!"

The mage wasn't fast enough. Even as his shield went up, the force and heat melted right through it and drove him into the ground, creating an enormous crater and demolishing the entire mountain on which they were fighting.

With his opponent down, Natsu looked over at Mirajane, who had returned to her human form, looking quite beat-up.

"Mira!" He exclaimed, rushing over to her. "Are you alright?"

She just smiled at him. "I'm fine Natsu… My magic energy's expended, though…"

"That's alright," Natsu grinned. "These were the strongest in the guild for sure. You cuff 'em while I go clean up the rest."

 **~Later~**

As the two were coming back to Sabertooth, after dropping off the dark guild members in town, Yukino came running out to meet them.

"Natsu-sama!" She cried, completely ignoring Mirajane. She dove for the dragon slayer, and captured his lips in a passionate kiss.

*Smack* Mira's handed left a huge red imprint on the celestial spirit mage's cheek. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

"Breaking your Macro curse power," Yukino said, glaring at her.

Mira blinked, taken aback. "My what?"

"Don't act so innocent… Erza told me all about it. You have Natsu under some demonic curse power that makes him do whatever you want… including be "in love" with you. But she also knew how to break the power of your demon curse: a kiss from the woman who truly holds his heart."

"Which means you should be free now, Natsu-sama!" She said, offering the dragon slayer a blushing smile. "I'm so glad that Erza knew how you really felt…"

Natsu sweat-dropped. "Umm… I'm sorry Yukino, but Erza lied to you… I'm not under the power of any curse… Mira is the woman I'm in love with."

"But… But…" Tears filled Yukino's eyes, and she blushed deeply, hurrying back to the guild.

Natsu's eyes were hard as he looked down at Mira. "I know you and Erza have a rivalry, but Erza's taken this too far this time..."

Mira nodded in agreement, feeling sorry for the poor girl despite having just watched her kiss her husband.

 **~Later at Sabertooth~**

Yukino bowed to the couple.

"I'm really very sorry for what happened earlier..."

"We forgive you," Mira spoke for the two of them this time. Then, to master Sting. "We're very sorry that one of our own behaved this way. I knew Erza was jealous, but I never expected her to take things this far just to try to get to me..."

Sting sighed. "I guess Erza's just as scary in jealous revenge as in combat..."

Mira and Natsu sweat-dropped.

"Hey Sting," Natsu said. "It's almost dark out. Mind if we crash here for the night?"

"Make yourselves at home..." Sting said.

Then, after a couple minutes of thought, he added. "Take the room farthest down the right hall... You shouldn't disturb anyone there."

Mirajane just giggled.


	9. Remember Who You Are

I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters.

So this is the next chapter. The action will start picking up over the next few chapters, but there won't be a whole lot of action in this chapter.

Anyway, hope you enjoy.

* * *

"Mira…"

"Hmm?..." The silver-haired mage was snuggled up to Natsu under the covers, her eyes almost ready to close.

"I want you to promise that you're not going to do anything to Erza… in retaliation…"

That woke her up. "What?!"

"I know she's your rival," the dragon slayer replied quietly. "But you two need to let things cool down. People are starting to get hurt."

"Natsu, I'm not going to do anything that'll hurt anyone else…"

"Are you sure? What if those rumors you started about Jellal and Erza reached Jellal? Maybe he's still in love with her."

Mira blushed. "Nobody heard them except a select few in Fairy Tail…"

Natsu sighed. "Can you just promise… for me Mira?"

Mirajane sighed. "When you ask that way, how can I refuse?"

"I'd like to hear you say it then…"

"Alright, I promise Natsu."

Natsu kissed her. "Thanks. I love you, Mira…"

"I love you too… but you are so going to make this up to me… Tomorrow night."

"It's a deal." Natsu grinned.

 **~The next day, at the guild~**

"Erza, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Erza turned to the dragon slayer, her heart skipping a beat. "You want to talk to me?" She couldn't help noticing that Mirajane was nowhere to be seen.

"It'll only take a few minutes… somewhere private."

"Ok," Erza said. Going willingly to one of the rooms set off in the guild for private conversations.

Once inside, Natsu sat in one of the chairs while Erza sat not far away from him.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked, adjusting to her most comfortable outfit.

"I need to ask you something… And I really, really hope you'll agree."

Erza's eyes got sparkly. _Has their marriage gone bad already?_ "What is it Natsu?"

Natsu sighed. "This rivalry you have with Mira is spiraling out of control. She's already promised me that she would stop. I want you to promise the same."

Erza deflated visibly. "Oh…"

"Erza…" Natsu looked her in the eyes. "Other people are starting to get hurt. Do you have any idea how painful it was for Yukino when she tried to 'break the curse macro?'"

"It was just a little joke…" Erza said, looking down.

"Erza," Natsu picked her chin up, looking her in the eyes. "I know Mira is your rival, and that's good. But you need to remember who you are. The Erza I know would never hurt somebody else for a selfish rivalry. The Erza that I once loved would never have done that…"

Erza's eyes teared up, sitting quietly across from the dragon slayer. "You… you loved me?"

Natsu nodded. "I did at one time. I thought you were in love with Jellal, so I never told you."

Erza buried her face in her hands, tears streaming through her fingers. _Why did I keep pretending that I loved Jellal – even to myself?_

"Erza… Promise me, no more striking out at Mira. If you want to be mad at somebody, you can be mad at me."

"I promise," Erza said through her tears. _So I lost the battle on my own… Long before Mira cheated…_

"Thank you," said Natsu. "You're a great friend, Erza."

Erza Scarlet remained in the room for a long time after the dragon slayer departed.

 **~Deep in a forest, elsewhere in Fiore~**

"AAAAHHHH!" It took every ounce of Laina's strength, but she was able to push herself up to her hands and knees under Bluenote's gravity. She stayed there for nearly 20 seconds before collapsing again to the ground.

"Are you already giving up?" The tall, muscular mage said. "You'll never be able to fly like that."

Laina grunted, pushing herself up again halfway, but collapsed after only 5 seconds, her whole body aching. She lay there for another 2 minutes before Bluenote finally released the gravity effects.

"Pathetic," he growled, stalking away into the forest.

"You can rest for a few minutes," Rustyrose said. He'd been watching the training nearby. "Then we need to work on your agility again."

With a sigh, Laina just laid back down, taking as much time as she could to catch her breath.

 **~At the guild hall, 2 days later~**

"Hey look!" Lucy grinned. "Finally, a request I can do on my own! And it pays well too!" She showed Natsu a request to hunt down a small magic beast in the forests of northwestern Fiore. The creature didn't seem very powerful, but it was causing a lot of damage to a small cluster of villages in the area.

"Good for you Lucy!" Natsu said. It had been a while since the celestial spirit mage had taken a request by herself.

"Juvia and Gray-sama should go on a request!" Juvia squealed. "Something far away from towns or cities…"

Gray sweat-dropped. "Just because it worked for Mira, don't think getting me out in the forest will get me. I'm not as brainless as mr. fall for the first girl I'm alone with…"

Out of nowhere, Natsu dived in and the two started fighting. Juvia watched the flurry of fists. "Gray-sama, you're so cool!"

Lucy sweat-dropped and slipped out the door with her quest before she could get caught up in the brawl.

"Natsu," Makarov called. "Get in here, now!"

Instantly Natsu quit fighting. "Coming master!" He called. "We'll finish this later," he said to Gray.

"What is it gramps?" Natsu asked when he was in Makarov's office.

"I just heard something troubling about the dark guild that you apprehended on your last quest," Makarov said. "It seems they were a part of some kind of experiment…"

"What experiment?"

"The council doesn't know much about it. All they know is that the two you apprehended were among many test subjects. The mages you captured didn't know how many were alive, but they said many others died during the experiments."

"Huh," Natsu said.

"Natsu, I need you and Mira to take Erza with you and investigate this. This request is directly from the council. I'm also going to send Wendy. Her healing magic could be of great use to you."

"Mira and I can take 'em!" the dragon slayer replied.

"You'll take Erza and Wendy, as I requested." The guild master replied. "The council believed we should send a four-man team to investigate this."

"Look gramps, I know Erza's really strong, but is it really a good idea for her to come with us?"

"Well, the three of you need to patch things up somehow. Seems like just as good a way as any to me."

Natsu sighed. "I guess you're right. But what about Wendy? Couldn't this be kind of dangerous for her?"

"Wendy's grown a lot, Natsu." Makarov said. "And her healing power can really help you on a quest like this."

"Besides," he added. "She's one of the few in the guild who can easily get people to cooperate – even if they're people who don't get along…"

"Ok gramps. When do we leave?"

"As soon as Mira gets here. I'll let you brief her, Erza, and Wendy on the request."

 **~A couple days later, deep in a forest somewhere in Fiore~**

"This is where the creature was last seen," Lucy groaned, trudging through the treacherous forest terrain. "But I've been searching for several hours and still no sign of it…"

A few minutes later. "Geez, I knew this would be easy, but I never expected it to be so boring…"

A couple minutes later. "You know, I should just be glad to be out of the guild. The way Mira and Erza have been, there's no knowing what might be happening down there. By the time I get back, there might not even be a guild…"

A few minutes later. "THIS IS SO BORING! I NEED SOMEONE TO TALK TO!"

*Rustle* "What was that?"

*Rustle* *RUSTLE*

Suddenly a large beast emerged, nearly twice the size of an elephant, with a head that resembled a lion. It had two tails that looked like scorpion tails, and a body that resembled a mix between a ferocious cat and a lizard. The creature roared at her loudly.

"So you're the beast that's been terrorizing the countryside out here… Sorry, but I'm gonna' have to get rid of you."

It roared again and leapt at her, but Lucy was faster. "Gate of the Bull: Taurus!"

"Lucy, your body gets me in the mooood!"

"Oh shut up and take care of this creature!"

"MOOOO!" Taurus attacked the creature with a ferocious swipe knocking it back several feet into a tree.

The creature got up shakily, shook itself, and roared again. Then it dashed off into the forest.

Lucy instantly took off after it, with Taurus on her heels. They dashed through thick brush, dodging tall trees along the way. Then suddenly, both of them hit the ground hard.

"Ugh!" Lucy tried to get up, but could barely lift her face off the ground. "What is this?"

"I can't moooove," Taurus cried.

"One down…" Lucy looked up to see a tall man with gray hair and glasses. He looked vaguely familiar, but she was having trouble placing him.

"This one can't even fly…" That voice was familiar too. Lucy looked up to see a tall, muscular mage with dark blue hair. "Bluenote!" She cried out as things began falling into place. "Rustyrose!"

"Mr. Cursey didn't get to play," another voice said.

"So what do we do with her?" This was a woman's voice.

"Lucy felt a pair of anti-magic cuffs click onto her wrists. "For now? We hold her captive…"

"We should send this cow as a message." Bluenote said.

"No." Rustyrose seemed to be the leader. "That would bring the whole guild down on us. We still need to thin their ranks more."

"As you wish," Bluenote said, picking Lucy up with one arm and throwing her over his shoulder. "But I still think this is boring."

"You'll get your fun soon enough…"

 **~In another part of Fiore~**

"According to the calculations, the experiments are being conducted somewhere in this area." Mavis had insisted on coming with the team at the last moment, and nobody was about to say no to the first master.

"Just how big an area are we talking?" Erza asked, looking around at the vast forest and mountains surrounding them.

"I've narrowed it down to an area covering approximately 2838.7584 square miles…" The first master replied.

"We're never going to find it…" Natsu sweat-dropped.

"2800 square miles…" Mira shuddered. "That'll take years to search."

Mavis laughed. "Not years." She said. "It may sound like a huge area, but really it's only 53.28 miles each way."

"Well why didn't you just say that?" Natsu looked relieved.

"I did…" Mavis sweat-dropped.

"We should just be happy she came with us, or we could be searching forever." Wendy said with a smile. "First master is amazing."

"Thanks Wendy!" Mavis gave her brightest smile.

"So how do we find it?"

"I was hoping your nose would give us a clue, Natsu."

Natsu sniffed, then looked up surprised. "That's strange. I can't smell anything at all!"

"Well, it could be many miles away still," Mavis said.

"No," said Natsu. "I mean I can't smell anything. No animals. No trees. Not even Lucy, Mira, or Erza…"

Instantly Wendy started sniffing too. "I can't smell anything either…" she said, also looking surprised.

To their surprise, Mavis just smiled. "That means we must be close!"

"How do you figure?" The dragon slayer asked.

"We have two dragon slayers who can't smell anything… Either this is the biggest coincidence in the world, or somebody's trying to prevent something from being discovered."

"Oh – you mean magic?"

Mavis laughed. "Yes. Magic is interfering with your noses."

"Well that's good to know," Natsu said. "I thought I'd suddenly lost all sense of smell."

"How will we find it, if it's so well protected?" Erza asked.

"Illusion magic can be shattered once it is seen through," the first master replied.

"Great! How do we see through it?"

"Find what they're trying to hide."

"Oh, that'll be easy…"

And so they started searching.


	10. More Complications

I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters.

This is the next chapter... hope you enjoy.

* * *

"Hey Jet, look at this." Droy handed the fast mage a request from the board.

"You thinking team shadow gear?" Jet asked, looking at the request.

"I think you and me. We need to prove to Levy that team shadow gear needs to stay together. It's a pretty simple quest."

Jet read the request. The client wanted them to take out a small group of bandits that were blocking travel out of one of the small northwestern towns in Fiore. The flier said none of the bandits were magic users.

"With this we can surely prove to Levy that she can stay with team shadow gear!" Jet said.

"Let's go!"

And the two headed out.

 **~Searching for the experimentation house~**

"This is taking forever…" Natsu groaned. A whole day had passed, and so far they had been unable to locate the facility.

"I don't understand it," Mavis said. "We've been through every inch of this place. Somebody should have run into the facility by now…"

Natsu glared. "Alright, I'm done with this… time to make the searching a little easier."

"Fire Dragon King Mode!"

"Natsu wait!"

"Roar of the Fire Dragon King!"

Everyone gaped as an entire square mile of forest disappeared. Then another as Natsu rampaged off. Soon another square mile evaporated.

Before long, the smoke was clearing from over 2300 square miles of what used to be thick forest. The guild members looked on, speechless.

"What's that?" Erza pointed. In one crater, probably a mile from their location, a few lone trees and lush forest fauna stood out from the desolation around it.

Mavis squinted. "Either Natsu missed a spot, or…"

Instantly they rushed toward that location, where they were met by the exhausted dragon slayer.

"Man, that really wore me out."

"Of course it did baka!" Said Mirajane. "You just destroyed practically a whole forest…"

"Except for this one little green patch…" Mavis said, walking straight into a tree… And then through it.

"Woah!" Everyone exclaimed as the illusion shattered. The trees and foliage disappeared, revealing a large, metal trap door that was untouched by the widespread destruction.

"Now to get it open…"

 **~Miles away, deep in a forest~**

Laina successfully batted away each of the iron balls as they attacked her. Her target was only 10 feet away. Now 5. Now within reach.

With a burst she plunged her dagger to the heart of her target, but the iron figure moved, turning its chest and deflecting the blow off-target with one arm. She followed with her other dagger, underneath the arm, but this was also deflected for little damage.

Frustrated, she knocked another iron orb away, then another. Then she tried again, attacking the target before her.

Again her blows were deflected with expert speed and skill. Frustrated, she pressed the attack, striking another blow up under the armpit. The knife was deflected so it just grazed the target, but her other was already coming over, aimed at the left breast area.

The iron person deflected that blow as well, though it gouged the shoulder. Before she could press the attack, she had to pull back to partially deflect an iron ball. It missed her vitals, but slammed into her stomach hard.

Soon she was on the defensive again, struggling just to deflect the 4 iron spheres that were assaulting her.

Lucy couldn't see what was going on, but she could hear the mages training. Other than their identities, she realized that she really didn't know much about them. The one thing they seemed to have in common was their hatred for Fairy Tail.

"The trap is baited," The voice belonged to Ivan Dreyar. "Now we just have to see who bites."

"You hear that girl?" Rustyrose's voice. Lucy didn't respond.

"I know you're listening," he said after a couple moments of silence. "You should be happy – you'll have company soon."

"Why are you doing this?" She asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Rustyrose's smirk was evident in his voice. "I'm going to repay Fairy Tail for all the pain you caused me…"

"Pain?"

"Yes, pain." He raised his voice ever so slightly. "10 years ago I was part of one of the strongest, most feared dark guilds. We could get anything we wanted. Nobody could stand in our way…"

"And then we ran into Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail mages took us down, one at a time, and finally, unthinkably, even defeated Master Hades… If it weren't for you, I never would've been humiliated by Tartaros. Our plans to revive Zeref would've worked out the way they were supposed to. We'd be ruling the world right now, instead of wandering the forests of Fiore, hiding from the magic council."

"So I'm going to round up your teammates. And once I have them all, I'm going to get your master. Then he can watch you die, one at a time, until his turn comes…"

"You won't get away with this!" Lucy said.

"Watch me."

 **~In another part of Fiore~**

Natsu's fire lit up the dark hallway that led deep into the earth. The others followed along behind the dragon slayer, looking at their surroundings.

So far there had been no doors opening to the left or right, but they were definitely in a manmade structure. The metal walls were smooth. The floor level and even. Natsu's keen sense of smell could detect the presence of humans further down the passage, though it was impossible to tell exactly how far.

Erza was glaring at Mira, who was clinging to Natsu's arm as they walked. Wendy was walking next to Mavis, who was cheerfully evaluating their surroundings.

"Somebody went to great lengths to discourage visitors," she was saying as they walked along. "And whoever it was had a lot of money and magic power backing them."

"We're close to someone," Natsu said suddenly, stopping and sniffing the air. "Or someone is closing in on us…"

"How close, Natsu?" Mavis asked.

"Very… almost on us now."

"I don't see anyone," Mira said peering around.

"Nor do I…" Erza squinted into the darkness ahead. "Are you sure your nose is working right Natsu?"

Suddenly Natsu grabbed Mira and jumped back almost into the first master. A portion of the wall to their right became a jagged spike and missed skewering the dragon slayer and his mate by millimeters.

Erza saw another jagged spike appear above her and managed to move just fast enough to avoid it.

Another piece came out and hit the dragon slayer full on, but the metal melted as Natsu increased the heat his body was giving off.

"Sorry everyone," he muttered as the temperature increased. Clothes began melting off as the metal around them also melted, dripping from the ceiling and running down the walls. The walls jiggled in places, as though trying to move but unable to take form, and then they stopped.

Instantly it cooled down, leaving everyone except Natsu, and the first master's spirit body, naked. Erza flushed scarlet and requipped instantly. Wendy tried to cover herself. Mira just smiled and clung to his arm. "Why Natsu, if you want me to get naked you should just ask."

Wendy continued to blush in the back, her whole body turning as red as Erza's hair. "I wish Lucy were here… her celestial spirits would be a great help right now!"

"Here…" Natsu threw her his vest. "It's not much, but it'll help till we can find you something better."

"Do you think he'll come back?" Wendy asked after she put Natsu's vest on, holding it closed over her breasts with one hand.

"I dunno," Natsu shrugged. "Probably not here, at least."

"Why didn't he come out of the walls?" Erza wondered.

"He couldn't," Mavis said. "I'm not sure if it's because of Natsu's heat, or because the mage has permanently become a part of this structure, but he couldn't leave the walls. I could sense it."

"So now what?"

"We keep going, of course!" Natsu grinned, increasing his flame to light the way for them.

"By the way Natsu," said Mira. "How did Happy feel about being left behind?"

"He seemed to be ok with it," Natsu grinned. "Said he was gonna' spend time with Carla or something…"

"Oh… Ok…"

 **~In a forest, far away~**

Lucy woke up suddenly as the doors were opened. A skinny mage and a large, overweight mage were tossed into the cell with her.

"Jet! Droy!" Lucy said, recognizing the two. "You guys were captured too?"

But the unconscious mages didn't answer. "Of course…" Lucy mumbled, remembering that she had also been tossed in unconscious. "You guys could be better company…"

She looked at her keys despondently. "I can't even summon Plue…"

"AAAAHHHH!" Laina had one knee up, and was trying with all her might to push the other leg up and stand. She got about halfway before she collapsed to her hands and knees again.

 _One more time._ She groaned with effort as she pushed one of her legs up, bringing her torso erect. She started to straighten out her leg, rising slowly under the effects of Bluenote's gravity, but then collapsed again.

 _Once more._ She tried again, but couldn't make it quite as far this time.

A few minutes later, she collapsed all the way to the ground. Bluenote's gravity effect stopped, and she lay there, exhausted and numb.

After she'd rested for a few more minutes, it was time to begin her agility training.

 **~Fairy Tail guild hall~**

"Lucy's been gone for a while…" Levy muttered, at the table with Gajeel. "I hope everything's alright with them."

"Of course it is – why wouldn't it be?"

"I just have a bad feeling is all…."

Suddenly Cana, who had been staring at the board for the last several minutes, squealed in delight. "Oh! This one's perfect!"

"What is it Cana?"

"This guy's looking for a mage who can beat him in a drinking contest. He's willing to pay 300,000 jewel if you succeed."

"Wow…" Juvia sweat-dropped.

"It's almost like someone made that quest just for Cana," Gray said.

"Alright! I'll be back soon – with 300,000 jewel." Cana grabbed a huge jug for the road and took off.

"Man, with everyone starting to go out on quests this guild's feeling a little empty…"

"Tell me about it," Gajeel slumped on his table. "It's downright boring around here."

"Still," Levy said, still concerned. "Lucy's been gone a long time… She should be done with her request by now."

"Maybe she had trouble finding the creature," Gajeel said. "It's wild, after all."

At the bar, Makarov was pondering some of the recent events. He agreed with Levy that Lucy should be back by now. Also, there was something that seemed off about the request Cana had taken. It was the third request in quick succession that offered a pretty high reward for a fairly low-level request.

He sighed again, turning back to the bar. Hopefully this was just paranoia setting in…

 **~~~At the experimentation facility~~~**

Natsu stopped again, so suddenly that Mavis, Erza, and Wendy all ran into his back. The group went down in a tangle of limbs.

"What's wrong Natsu?" Erza asked as they untangled themselves.

"There's a large group waiting for us around that corner." Natsu replied.

"Great," Wendy said with a smile. "Then we've finally reached the end of this hallway…"

Mavis looked serious. "How many, Natsu?"

"At least 10," the dragon slayer replied. "There are 10 unique scents in there."

"Well, they already know we're here…" Mavis said, looking at Natsu's flames lighting the way. "But I thought when we got to the main structure it would be lighted.

"Maybe it is," Mira said. "There could be a door up there that's blocking us from seeing it."

"Of course," Mavis mumbled. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"At any rate, let's see what's awaiting us." Erza said, and the group moved forward again around the corner.

There was indeed a door, made of the same metal as the passage they were currently in. There was no way to tell how thick it was, but it looked like it was designed heavy and thick to keep people out.

"Let's knock then, shall we?" Natsu grinned.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" The door was blown away into the room beyond as light came flooding into the hallway. As the group charged forward, Erza counted 9 mages forming a semi-circle around the door area.

"I thought you said there were 10," she said to the dragon slayer as they came to a stop, just inside the door. "I only count 9."

Just then the door, which was slammed against the opposite wall, was thrown aside, and a glaring mage with a steel body leapt forward to join the fray.

"10…" Natsu grinned. "I'm all fired up."


	11. The Battle Begins

I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters. This is just a fanfiction.

Not much to say this time, except here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it.

* * *

"Gray, Juvia!" Makarov called from the door to his office.

"Coming master!" The two mages got up and headed to the guild master's office.

Once they were inside and sitting, Makarov leaned forward.

"I'm going to make this as quick as possible. You two need to get to the location that Cana's going to without her noticing that you're there."

"You want us to follow Cana on a drinking request?" Gray said.

"No questions. There's something very wrong going on right now. Think about it. In the past week, we've had 3 requests show up that paid highly for a job that should've been simple. That may be a coincidence, but Lucy also hasn't returned yet from her request…"

"You think someone's trying to lure us out?" Juvia said.

"That's what it looks like to me," Makarov said. "Which is why I need you to go undercover. Don't look like you're there with her. Get there at a separate time. Find out what's going on, and if there is an enemy, do not engage until you've reported back to me. I'm giving you a communications lacrima, so make sure to use it as soon as anything suspicious happens."

"Why not send Laxus? If someone is targeting Fairy Tail members, he'd be able to deal with them quickly," Gray said

"Laxus is out on Tenroujima for training… I don't want to recall him unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Juvia will be happy to go," Juvia said. "And Gray-sama will too."

"Good," Makarov said. "Cana's probably already on a train, so there's no time to waste. I'm going to have one of those new magic cars get you to this point here…" He pointed to a sharp turn on the railroad. "You should be able to board the train easily at that point. Make sure you spot Cana, and make sure she doesn't spot you."

With that, the two mages departed.

 **~~~Natsu's party~~~**

"Take Over: Eligos!" Natsu shouted. His transformation was instant, horns sprouting from the side of his head and a pale, skeletal winged steed beneath him. A lance appeared in his hand, and armor that was blacker than midnight.

"Natsu, you've already used a lot of magic power…" Mirajane said. "That form will burn through magic power fast…" She chose to use her Halphas transformation.

"Then we'll just have to take 'em out fast!" Natsu grinned. The others were gaping, never having seen him use take over magic.

"Maybe you should fight using dragon slayer magic…" Erza said, but before she even finished the sentence he was gone.

Mira sighed, rolling her eyes. "He likes that form because he thinks the horse looks cool…" Then she was on the attack as well.

Natsu's lance, though it moved too fast to see, was blocked by the steel mage. Mirajane's attack knocked back an opponent, but he was up again quickly. The two mages were already exchanging blows by the time Erza and Wendy joined the fray.

Mira dodged as her opponent sent an enormous blast of fire in her direction. Natsu also dodged as the steel mage produced swords out of nowhere and began attacking with them in rapid succession.

Suddenly a blast of water came in from his right, and he was forced to dodge again. The water mage shot another jet of water at him, which he also easily dodged. In the meantime, Erza requipped to her adamantine armor and was engaging two sword-bearing mages, fighting them defensively.

Wendy just had time to cast strengthening magic on her comrades before she was flanked by two other mages. One summoned forth a serpent, nearly twice Wendy's size, and a large bear. The other caused a flower to grow up out of the steel floor that spewed poison at the sky dragon slayer. She blew it away with a quick breath attack, and then dodged an attack from the giant lizard-like creature, which was exceptionally fast for its size.

Natsu was pressing the steel mage again when a third attacker joined the fray. Pieces of the floor began moving and warping, grabbing at him as though to hold him securely in place. Natsu loved his agility in this form, but he was beginning to miss his fire magic. A blast of water hit him across the chest.

He dove in with his lance again, connecting with the metal opponents chest and knocking him back, making a huge indent in the steel wall. Taking that instant, he pressed the attack on the water mage, quickly dodging the metal hands reaching up from the floor to grab him. His lance connected just to the right of her, but the force of the explosion knocked the water mage back 5 feet and bruised her in various places. He quickly turned back to the steel mage, who was getting back up, and rushed him, hitting him with the full force of the lance and the dark magic. The man went flying back, crashing through the steel wall and into the next room. He didn't get up this time.

And suddenly Natsu's form reverted to human. "Shit!" He said. "I think I used up all my magic power!"

Mirajane leapt past him, intercepting an attack from the water mage. A steel hand grabbed Natsu from the floor, and another, holding him in place.

"Now to finish you!" One of the mages fighting Mirajane leapt forward. "Raging Inferno!"

Mavis, who had been watching the scene unfold with increasing anxiousness, laughed as Natsu was enveloped in an enormous sphere of flame. Mirajane also smiled, quickly dodging an attack from another of her opponents.

The smirk disappeared from the fire mage's face as the fire slowly disappeared. He watched, shocked, as their destination became visible. They were getting sucked into the dragon slayer's open mouth! Once all the flames were gone, Natsu grinned, easily melting the metal hands that were holding him.

"Thanks for the meal! Now that I've eaten, I'm all fired up!"

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu directed the attack at his two remaining opponents. Both were hit, but neither seemed to take much damage. Natsu leaped out of the way as another metal hand came up from the floor. "Damn you're annoying."

~~~Erza~~~

Erza requipped to her heaven's wheel armor. A shower of swords rained down on her opponents. Both were very skilled with their swords, and took very little damage from the attack.

They came at her again, coordinating their attacks. She dodged a direct thrust, simultaneously slicing her sword up and across to parry the other mage's blade.

She quickly summoned well over 200 blades around her again, putting her opponents back on the defensive. "Dance, my blades…"

Instantly the blades began moving toward her opponents in a disc shape. As metal clashed against metal in the first parry, the swords abandoned their circular structure and flew rapidly at her opponents from all directions. The sword mages dodged and deflected many of the attacks, but some of the swords made it through their defenses, leaving more abrasions.

But the moment the shower of blades ended the two were pressing her again. Their swords were beginning to penetrate her defenses, leaving lacerations on her sides, legs, and arms. She quickly gathered her swords to her again.

 _I wish I could go to my Clear Heart Armor, but against two opponents I can't just sacrifice my defense…_ She kept her blades close, holding off her opponents while she took the time to think.

 _I can't use my Nakagami Armor… I'll burn through all my magic power._ She deflected another attack from one of her opponents who managed to get through her blades for a moment.

"Requip: Armadura Fairy!" The pink-colored armor appeared instantly on her, her circle of 200 blades replaced by a mere two swords. The other mages, thinking themselves to have the advantage, renewed their attack with vigor.

 **~~~Mira~~~**

After successfully baiting the fire mage into attacking Natsu, Mirajane renewed her attack on her opponents. She remained in the form of Halphas, not wanting to burn too much magic power by fighting in the Sitri or Sayla forms.

She dodged a huge blast of fire, then snuck inside another opponent's hand-to-hand combat techniques to deliver a powerful blast of dark energy directly to his chest. Behind her, a third opponent took the opportunity to fire a thunder bullet at point blank range. Even with Halphas's enormous speed, Mirajane wasn't able to completely avoid the projectile. It hit her hard, knocking her to the side and bruising her ribs.

She was up again in an instant. The martial artist wasn't getting back up, much to her relief. She quickly dodged another bullet, which flew past her head and into a far wall. Then charged the fire mage. She was at his side in an instant, hitting him with all the force she could muster. He managed to partially block her attack as another bullet sped toward her. She was able to narrowly avoid that one, partially because she'd anticipated the attack, but she was put on the defensive again as the fire mage tossed an enormous fireball at her.

She jumped back again. Two bullets came in rapid succession. She barely dodged one that was aimed for her head, and the other caught the back of her leg. She was thrown all the way to the nearest wall, crashing hard against it. As she got up, there was already a stream of fire, and another bullet, headed her way.

 **~~~Wendy~~~**

Wendy leapt back again from the lizard creature, wishing the space weren't so enclosed. The bear-like creature was easier to avoid. It's movements a little slower. But when she had to worry about the lizard creature and the poison flower mage, she often found herself perilously close to its claws.

"Sky Dragon's Roar!" Wendy blew away another cloud of poison that had come perilously close to hitting her. She had to do something about the poison plant user fast. She sighed. _What would Natsu-san do?_

She leapt out of the way of a swipe from the bear-like creature's claw. Then barely dodged the lizard-beast, its rough skin grazing against her and knocking her sideways.

 _What would Natsu-san do?..._ Suddenly she had it.

"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Shattering Light: Sky Drill!" A vortex of wind appeared around the poison flower user, closing in on her rapidly. Wendy saw a beast charging in her peripheral, but knew she had to finish the spell before she could move. Finally the winds converged, and the plant user was thrown to the ground.

Wendy tried to leap out of the way of the oncoming beast, but it was too close. It's claws slammed her across the shoulder, drawing blood and knocking her to the ground. The second creature was on her instantly, and it was all she could do to roll out of the way of its furious swipes.

 **~~~Natsu~~~**

Natsu growled as another arm came up from the ground, grabbing his leg mid kick. "I'm getting tired of this shit! Fire Dragon King Mode…"

He vaguely heard Mira protest next to him… something about magic power. But he was already in action. "Fire Dragon King's Roar!"

A new tunnel was created, and the two mages who were attacking him were thrown back into it. Both were down from the count.

"Now for the next…" Natsu collapsed suddenly. "Oh…"

 **~~~Mirajane~~~**

Mirajane scowled as the dragon slayer collapsed. Sure, he took out his enemies, but their odds weren't any better than before. And she'd already tricked the fire mage into recharging the dragon slayer once.

She dodged another fireball, watching it explode on the wall behind her. Then suddenly she had an idea.

She couldn't make her move right away.. it would be too obvious. So instead she waited patiently, trading blow for blow with the fire mage and gun wielding mage she was fighting.

 **~~~Erza~~~**

Erza's opponents were pressing her hard, but the skilled requip mage had been fighting them long enough to recognize their patterns. Unlike her, they didn't have a wide variety of weapons and styles to choose from. Battered and worn as she was, they were no longer able to land a hit on her.

Her swords worked in perfect harmony, driving their thrusts, slices, and chops away. Slowly she began to turn the tide, putting her enemies on the defensive. From the corner of her eye she saw Natsu go down after using up all his magic power – again – and groaned inwardly.

She continued to mount an offensive attack, now striking more often than she was parrying. She was beginning to see patterns in her opponents' defensive maneuvers. Patterns she could make use of…

 **~~~Wendy~~~**

"Sky Dragon's Wing Attack!" It wasn't huge, but it was enough to knock both beasts off her long enough to regain her footing. The petite bluenette was bleeding from multiple lacerations in her side and shoulders, Natsu's vest also being torn to shreds. But she was far from done fighting. With only the beast summoner to worry about, she was sure she could win this.

She dodged another straightforward charge from the lizard-beast, only to find herself nearly under the bear-creature's claws. She jumped back quickly, then sensed a charge coming from her back right. She jumped up in the air. "Sky Dragon's Claw!"

The lizard-beast was blown backward into the wall and lay stunned for an instant as Wendy leapt out of the way of another powerful sweep of the bear-creature's claws. She was quick to press her advantage on the lizard-beast. "Sky Dragon's Crushing Fang!"

She smiled as the lizard creature disappeared, turning to take care of the bear and the beast summoner.

Two of the lizard beasts appeared next to the bear-creature, and Wendy groaned. The only way to end this battle was to get through the creatures to the summoner. And she was already feeling exhausted.

 **~~~Erza~~~**

Erza was in the flow of her motions now. With one hand she aimed an agile thrust at one opponent's side, not really hard enough to damage – just enough to make sure he had to block it. With her other blade, she swept down toward the other's head. The mage raised her sword to block, and Erza's second sword came in at that instant, impacting her hard under the blocking arm. Her other sword glanced down off the block and came across just in time to intercept a blow from the second mage.

Behind her, she sensed the appearance of the new beasts. But she didn't have time to help Wendy yet. Wendy was a Fairy Tail wizard. She would have to hold out a little longer.

Erza's opponents were getting their second wind, working furiously to turn the tide in their favor. Erza allowed herself to give a few steps, shifting the flow of her blades to a defensive wall that allowed nothing through. She simply had to wait out this fresh surge of energy before going on the attack again, and one of her opponents was already weakening…

 **~~~Mirajane~~~**

Mira dodged another stream of flame shot from the flame mage's fingers, only to hear a gun cock directly behind her. With a quick turn of her head, she dove quickly toward the gun wizard, the projectile grazing her cheek and knocking her slightly off course to the right. Even as she rose, an enormous ball of swirling flame was flying at her…

And as she leapt out of the way, it landed on the dragon slayer who was behind her.

 _You'd better not waste it Natsu… I'm not going to be able to get them to hit you again._ She quickly dodged another lightning bullet as the fire behind her disappeared into the dragon slayer's mouth.

 **~~~Erza~~~**

Their attacks were slowing again, and Erza shifted her movements to the offensive. A thrust here. A slice there. Then her weapon chopped down on her opponents shoulder with great force. The mage's block wasn't enough to fully stop the blade, which glanced down to cut a large gash in her bicep.

Blocking the other mage's slice, Erza pressed the advantage, thrusting in hard at the female mage. She barely blocked the straightforward thrust, and a sweep across with Erza's other weapon caught her full in the side. She was thrown to the ground with the force of the blow as another huge gash appeared in her ribcage.

The other mage was moving intensely again. He was now beyond the power of his second wind, but not beyond the power of fear. And that was exactly what was controlling him now. Erza didn't press her advantage yet. His movements were more erratic, less predictable. She kept in a mostly defensive posture, getting a strike in where she could…

 **~~~Natsu~~~**

"Thanks for the meal! Now that I've eaten, I'm fired up!"

Looking around he saw Wendy, on her heels as she tried to defend against the three beasts. The beast summoner was watching in amusement, ready to summon more.

"Fire Dragon's Talon!" Natsu's attack knocked the surprised beast summoner across the room and into the wall, taking out one of his beasts in the process and narrowly missing Wendy.

"Sky Dragon's Secret Art: Shattering Light: Sky Drill!" Wendy took advantage of the attack to finish the beast summoner off. Their master defeated, the summoned beasts instantly disappeared.

"Good work Wendy!" Natsu grinned.

"Don't look!" Wendy shrieked, covering herself the best she could with her arms. Natsu's vest was ripped to tatters, leaving her nothing to cover herself with.

 **~~~A few minutes later~~~**

"It's a good thing at least one of the female wizards had clothes that actually didn't get burnt off…" Mira observed as Wendy adjusted the clothes as well as she could. The gun-toting mage lay knocked out on the floor in her bra and panties.

"Hey, I just realized something…" Erza said, looking at Mira who was clothed using transformation magic. "You could've done that the whole time."

"Yep, but what fun would that have been? I had to punish Natsu for burning my clothes off, after all."

Erza's face turned red as she recalled the "punishment," which had consisted mainly of the silver-haired mage rubbing her naked breasts against the dragon slayer's arms as they walked, and his face when they were stopped.

"Anyway, what do we do with these?" She asked, motioning around them.

"Cuff them and leave them here for now." Mavis said. "They won't be waking up for a while anyway."

"Alright! Let's get going!" Natsu said, starting forward.

"Not yet," Mavis said. "Everyone needs to rest for a few minutes. And eat whatever food survived Natsu's rampage earlier."

Erza pulled a few charred loaves and some charred meat out of the pack. "It's a little roasted, but it'll have to work…"


	12. A Not so Happy Reunion

**I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters. I just write about them...

So here's the next chapter. Sorry for those who were looking for more fluff, but these next couple chapters will be a little darker.**

* * *

"Gray, something's wrong…" Juvia whispered. "I don't sense any magic power…"

"I don't sense any either," Gray said, frowning. "But Master Makarov was sure that there's some dark guild involved in this."

Across the room from them, a tall, older man with blonde hair picked up his first mug of beer. Cana, sitting close to him on a wooden barstool, picked up a keg.

"You're a confident one," the man grinned.

"If you can't at least drink by the keg, this'll be easy." Cana grinned back.

Then she glanced toward the corner table where Gray and Juvia were sitting. Gray pulled his hood a little closer around his face, and Juvia turned her head to the side.

"You don't think she saw Juvia, do you?"

"Nah.." Gray responded. "If anything, she's probably wondering who the two weirdos with cloaks in the corner are."

Juvia blushed. "Juvia told you we should've just worn different clothing…"

"That would've been way too risky!" Gray exclaimed in a whisper. "She would've recognized our faces for sure!"

Juvia suppressed a giggle. "Juvia could've gotten magic disguises. Shops sell them all over Fiore and they don't cost much…"

"But we didn't have time to stop and get them…"

"Cana spent two hours pregame drinking in that restaurant. Juvia could've picked something up…"

"Ok, ok. I just think the cloak is cool, ok? Get off my back!"

"Juvia isn't on Gray-sama's back, but if Gray-sama wants Juvia will climb on Gray-sama's lap," Juvia said.

"I don't need that!" Gray broke the whisper.

"Gray-sama blew our cover!" Juvia squealed, as the two looked to the bar. To their surprise, Cana wasn't on her stool anymore, but passed out on the floor.

"Take her to an empty room," the barkeeper said. Two other people who were nearby carried Cana to a room a couple doors down the hall. "Man she's heavy," one commented.

"Something's very wrong, Gray-sama." Juvia said quietly.

"Yeah – that idiot did too much 'pregaming' and lost the request." Gray fumed quietly.

"Juvia's seen Cana drink way more than that." Juvia said. "Cana drinks 10-15 kegs a day at Fairy Tail."

Gray let that sink in for a moment. "You're right. Even with her pregame drinking, she shouldn't be down after just one keg."

"But there were no mages in the bar!" He objected a minute later.

"Juvia knows…" Juvia had a very perplexed look on her face. "Perhaps Master Makarov was wrong?"

"Unlikely," Gray said. "Or this is pure coincidence. Sure, someone could get Cana with drinks. But what about Lucy? Or Jet and Droy?"

Just then they heard the sound of a stagecoach behind the tavern. The two looked at each other before dashing outside. They saw the two men who had carried her to the room going back to the tavern through a side door.

"Don't tell me…"

"Juvia thinks we need to follow them!" Juvia said, sprinting after the stagecoach.

Gray sprinted after her, not arguing for once.

 **~~~Natsu's Team~~~**

"Alright, let's get moving again!" said Erza.

"We should probably wait for Natsu and Mira," said Mavis.

"Where are those two jackasses?"

"They disappeared back into the hall a minute ago…" Wendy said with a slight blush.

"Damn it! They'd better not be…"

"OH FUCK NATSU!" "MIRA!"

Erza's face turned redder than her hair... partly from embarrassment, but mostly from anger.

"WE'RE GOING FORWARD, NOW!" She yelled, and started moving immediately.

Mirajane rejoined them almost immediately, with Natsu taking a little longer to catch up. Erza suddenly stopped, then turned to glare at the two.

"I know you two are married, but for fuck's sake KEEP IT IN YOUR PANTS!" she screamed at Natsu.

"Actually I pulled it out for fuck's sake…" Natsu whispered to Mira as Erza turned around, causing the other mage to giggle.

Erza turned to glare at them again before they proceeded through the next door.

The room they came to next was smaller, and darker. There were no lights on, and as they continued through it they began to sense immense magic power ahead.

This time, instead of busting down the door, Natsu put his hands on it. There was a brief second where nothing seemed to be happening. Then the door dissolved into a puddle of liquid on the ground.

The room they walked into next was an enormous cavern, large enough that they could go all out and not cause much damage. There was no light except the remnants from the other room streaming through the door behind them.

"For 4 of you to take out my gate guards, you must be pretty impressive…" A female voice spoke from the shadows. "But this is as far as you go."

"How many are there?" Erza hissed at Natsu.

"I smell 3, but the one in the back is pretty weak… only a small amount of magic power." The dragon slayer replied.

"So two that we really need to worry about," Erza said. "Great. That'll make this easy to divide up."

"Of course, Natsu and I will take the first one. You two can have the other." Mira said.

Erza growled angrily, but the couple were already moving toward their target, who was on the left. "How about a little light, Natsu?" Erza asked as she couldn't see where her target was.

"Oh right." Natsu said. "Fire Dragon's Enduring Flame!"

Suddenly the entire floor lit up, covered with fire. This caused everyone – friend and enemy alike – to jump back with a shriek. Erza's shriek was the loudest of all. "Natsu! I SAID LIGHT! NOT TRY TO KILL ME!"

"What's the big deal? These flames won't burn you," Natsu blinked. "They're barely even warm…"

"You could warn me next time…" Erza growled, embarrassed as she realized he was right. The flames didn't actually hurt at all.

The scene before them was now clear to everyone. The mage that Natsu and Mira were approaching was clothed all in white and blue armor. He carried a large, black staff that seemed contradictory to his knightly attire. A ways off to the right was a short mage, clad entirely in purple and black. She bore no weapons, but possessed a visible aura that appeared dark purple.

Behind them stood another person, the weaker one that Natsu had commented on. She was dressed in a sharp, pink business suit with coordinated shoes and even a tie. _She must be the head of this operation,_ Mavis thought.

 **~~~Gray and Juvia~~~**

The stagecoach came to a stop at a seeming random point in the woods, and a couple men pulled Cana out and started carrying her into the thick forest.

"Man this sucks… how long do we have to carry her?"

"The instructions were to bring her to a clearing about half a mile off the street."

"Half a mile? Why'd she have to be so heavy?"

"Guess the client's not into petite women."

This comment caused the others to snicker. Gray and Juvia wanted to attack and save her immediately, but they now knew there were more people involved.

"So this is all the work of some pervert?" Juvia whispered to Gray.

"Sounds like it," Gray said. _Or at least, that's what these guys believe…_

Suddenly Juvia stopped. "Juvia has a bad feeling… we should get Cana back now."

"We don't know who they're working for yet."

"But Juvia knows something bad is gonna' happen soon."

"Look Juvia," Gray sighed. "We don't know what happened to Lucy, Jet, and Droy yet. We can't leave till we find out. Don't worry, we won't be discovered."

"Juvia's not so sure…"

"Come on – we'll lose them if you keep this up."

Finally Juvia allowed herself to be pulled farther on. Eventually they came to a stop in a unique, rather large clearing. The men dropped her there and picked up a bag of Jewels in the middle of the clearing.

"Well, let's get out of here." One of the guys said. The other nodded, and they took off.

Several minutes passed as Gray and Juvia waited in the shadows.

"Maybe nobody's coming…" Gray whispered.

"No… Juvia can feel someone coming…"

"What do you mean? There's no one…" Suddenly Gray froze. There was a presence approaching. One with an enormous magical aura.

They watched as a tall man with gray hair and glasses walked into the clearing. Juvia gasped audibly, while Gray barely bit his own startled reaction back.

"It seems we have rats…" Another voice said. Gray and Juvia couldn't see the source, but they knew it was time to attack.

"Ice Make: Lance!"

"Water Slicer!"

Barely were there attacks underway when they slammed to the ground. Their bodies were suddenly incredibly heavy. Even pushing their heads up off the ground was excruciating.

"Juvia remembers this magic…"

"Bluenote… Gray growled, pushing himself up to his knees. "Ice Make: Ice Cannon!"

Suddenly the ice mage was hit hard in the head with a steel projectile. He fell under the effects of gravity, knocked out.

"Well would you look at that," Rustyrose said as they cuffed the mages. "3 for the price of one…"

"What do you want with us?" Juvia asked, sitting up as the gravity was released.

"Oh, nothing much…" Rustyrose smiled at her, but there was something demonic in his smile. "Just to make you and your whole guild suffer for what you did to me… before we kill you."

 **~~~Later, in the cages~~~**

"I'm sorry Juvia," Gray said, groaning as he sat up. "I should've listened to you."

"Gray-sama! Juvia is just glad you're alive!"

"Gray, Juvia, is that you?"

"Lucy?"

"So you're here too…" Gray said.

"Us too," Jet and Droy chimed in.

"Seriously, all you guys?" Gray said. "And now Cana… and us…"

"Hey guys," Rustyrose said with his evil smirk. "My partners and I are getting bored of just watching you sit in cages… so pick someone to duel me."

"Umm… Juvia thinks Gray-sama is the strongest."

"Yeah," Lucy agreed. "Gray should go."

"Alright!" Gray grinned. "I can't wait!"

Rustyrose opened the cage and pulled him out into the clearing. Then the other cages were turned suddenly so that they could watch.

"Umm…" Gray held out his cuffed hands expectantly.

"Oh, you didn't think I'd let you use magic, did you?" Rustyrose grinned as several metal balls and blades appeared around Gray.

"Oh shit…"

 **~~Several minutes later~~~**

"Well that was fun. Who's next?" Rustyrose grinned as Bluenote dragged a battered and bleeding Gray back to the cage.

"What, no volunteers? Well, let's take our first prisoner then." He motioned, and Lucy was dragged out…

 **~~~Natsu's party~~~**

"Dimension Door, City of Pain!"

Natsu and Mira found themselves in a totally different environment. They were in a city street, except there were no hard roads, only spikes that cut their feet. There were no buildings, only enormous swords, battle-axes, bows, and other weapons. The other mage was a long way down the street.

Mirajane instantly transformed into Sitri, hovering above the street. Natsu used his flames to propel his body upward, floating above the painful spikes.

"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu shot a huge stream of flame out of his mouth. To his surprise, the flame only made it about halfway to the mage before fizzling out.

"Dark Apocalypse!" Mirajane cried, and an enormous bolt of dark energy headed for the mage. It made it only about half as far as Natsu's roar, before hitting the ground, causing an explosion that was much smaller than it should've been.

"What the fuck?" Mira dodged one of the giant weapons that suddenly came crashing down on them. Next to her, Natsu also jumped out of the way of one of the weapons that took a slash at him.

"You should be honored. There are few mages whose power I respect enough to show them my city of pain…" The mage said. His voice was so loud that it hurt their ears. "You will find everything is warped here. Your sense of distance, your sense of proportion…"

Mira and Natsu dodged more weapons and flew up high above them. "This'll make it easier," Natsu grinned.

Suddenly several of the weapons floated up off the ground, slashing and swinging at the duo. Natsu was almost sliced in half by a sword that Mira had just dodged after dodging an axe himself.

"I think we should split up," Natsu grunted as a mace aimed at him narrowly missed Mirajane.

"That's surprisingly good thinking, Natsu." Mirajane grinned.

"Thanks, I think…" The dragon slayer retorted, as the two headed away from each other to avoid accidental death.

"Yes, that's it… Dance, my puppets…" The enemy mage grinned darkly, his polished armor shining like the sun in his death trap.

 **~~~Erza and Wendy~~~**

"Natsu!" Cried Erza as the dragon slayer and Mira suddenly disappeared from the cavern, along with the other mage.

"You should focus on your own battle," a dark voice spoke in her ear, and she dodged as a ball of black electricity flew past her, narrowly missing her head.

She turned to face her opponent, but suddenly was hit from behind by several blasts of black electricity. Each hit racked her with excruciating pain, as though every bone in her body was being cracked repeatedly.

Wendy was also hit with the effects. By the time the immediate pain was gone, Erza could only dodge as another ball of black electricity sailed past her. She watched as it hit the wall, then exploded into a veritable shower of electric charges that raced back at her and Wendy.

Quickly she put on her Adamantine Armor and got her shield up. Just in time, she was able to protect both herself and the sky maiden from the approaching blasts. Wendy was panting hard, her face still contorted from the painful assault.

Suddenly a sharp pain stabbed into Erza's back. It felt as though someone plunged a hand through her skin, grabbed hold of her spine, and ripped it out her back. "AAAAHHHH!" She cried out, doubling over in pain.

Next to her, she saw Wendy suffering similar effects. The young dragon slayer was screaming and writhing, her face contorted in suffering.

"You'll pay for that," Erza growled at her opponent.

"Well, aren't you the sturdy one?" The mage's dark voice laughed as she raised her arms again. "I can see why the gate guards were defeated…"

 **~~~Natsu and Mira~~~**

"Now let's start with you, Pinky," the mage's evil grin didn't disappear as he pointed his staff at Natsu. Suddenly something akin to a swarm of wasps encircled the dragon slayer, but these were sharp metal projectiles that tore at his skin and clothing. "AAAHHH" He screamed as cuts appeared all over his body.

He increased the heat of his aura, and soon a thousand tiny metal drops hit the weapons and spikes below them.

"Interesting…" The mage said, pointing his staff at Natsu again. This had the same effect, except his time the dragon slayer dropped below the falling molten balls to eat them as they fell.

"Thanks for the meal," he grinned. "Fire Dragon's Roar!"

His attack still didn't reach his opponent, who was now taking the battle more seriously. "It seems I won't be able to toy with you, as I thought."

 **~~~Back in the forest, deep in Fiore~~~**

"Who's next?" Rustyrose grinned as Juvia was tossed in the cage next to Gray, her body that wouldn't have even been touched by his blades if she had her magic battered and bleeding.

"She's the last one, and she's not even awake yet…" Bluenote announced.

"Well that's no fun. I have to be able to hear them scream," the gray-haired mage sighed.

"Alright, from this point on it's almost certain to be harder. Fairy Tail suspects something, so they're not just going to keep taking simple bait."

"So what do we do now?"

Rustyrose smirked. "Phase two…" he made sure all the conscious Fairy Tail mages could hear. "We find out what quests they're going on and ambush them…"

* * *

**Alright. I haven't fully decided yet, but I'm probably going to start writing my Natsu x Erza fic while I'm finishing this one up. I can't say for sure yet, but I'm thinking this probably has no more than 4 or 5 chapters left. And my fickle writer's heart is telling me it needs something new to write to keep things interesting...

Till the next chapter, Read and Review if you like please :)**


	13. And So They Fought

**I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters. If I did, Natsu and Lucy would never be a couple...

This is the next installment of this story. We're closing in on the end here. So far I've done a NaMi, and right now working on a NaMiZa... I kind of think I should do a NaZa as well, just to round it out.

Other pairings that I want to try are Natsu x Hisui, Natsu x Wendy, Natsu x Wendy x Chelia, and Natsu x Brandish...

Anyway, on with the story**

* * *

"AAHHHH!" Laina screamed as she took another step. It was only her third, but each movement was excruciating under Bluenote's gravity.

Rustyrose watched with a smirk. The girl had really come a long ways since they picked her up only a few weeks earlier. Her magic power, strength, and agility were all dramatically increased.

Bluenote was surprised that this girl had come so far in such a short time. Perhaps, as Rustyrose had said, pain was indeed the best teacher. He could sense that her magic power had nearly tripled since she began training with them a few weeks earlier.

Just then Ivan came in. "We've got a clue on one of the Fairy Tail mages… he took a job north of Crocus. It shouldn't be hard to ambush him on the way back to town if we hurry."

"How powerful?"

"It's just the old guy named Macao with his kid Romeo. They shouldn't be too hard to handle."

"Alright, you take Kain and go then. We'll continue Laina's training here."

Ivan nodded and departed.

In the Fairy Tail guild, a small, black creature laughed evilly as he watched the request board, looking for the dark guild's next targets.

 **~~~Natsu and Mira~~~**

Mirajane felt as though she'd been flying toward her opponent forever, yet the distance between them had barely closed.

She dodged again, feeling the air from a blade that just missed her head. Then she dodged forward, avoiding a strike that would've split her in half if it hit. _Damn these things are annoying…_

She looked over to Natsu, who seemed to be faring better despite being the other mage's main target. Perhaps it was because of his amazing fighting instincts. But he was somehow managing to dodge all the blades while making quick progress toward the mage.

Suddenly the mage's voice pounded in her ears again, each reverberation causing excruciating pain.

"Hourglass of Pain!"

A giant hourglass appeared around Natsu, and he was buried up to his neck in a metallic sort of sand. But as Mira looked, the metal sand seemed to be moving.

"Hah! I've already shown your metal is no- AAAAHHH!"

"That is etherium, the most heat-resistant metal in Earthland," the mage said ."And every time you speak, move, or try to use magic, they'll start ripping your skin off your body till you stop. In other words, it's certain, painful, death."

Mira redoubled her efforts, trying to get closer. "How dare you do that to Natsu!" She screamed.

"As for you, my flies should be enough to take care of you…"

Suddenly she was surrounded by a swarm of metallic bits. They tore at her clothing, cutting deep gashes in her arms and sides. She used her strongest dark energy blasts, but they just kept coming back, tearing away at her little by little.

She could also feel her magic power draining faster, and her eyes widened.

"I see you're feeling the other effects of my swarm…" The voice boomed. "Soon you won't have enough magic power left to maintain your fighting form."

"Mira-AAAAHHH!" Natsu screamed from the hourglass.

He was right. She didn't even have enough magic left to transform again. Would this be the end for her? As her Halphas form faded, Mirajane reached out for Natsu, a sad smile on her face as she lost consciousness, plummeting toward the waiting spikes below. _Natsu, my love… I'm so glad I could love you… even for such a short time._

 **~~~Erza and Wendy~~~**

"AAAAHH!" Erza cried out as another bolt she had been unable to block impacted her arm. She nearly dropped the sword she was carrying. Next to her, Wendy was now on the floor, unable to bear anymore of the pain coursing through her body.

"How much longer can you last?" Her opponent smirked, shooting another ball of energy at the scarlet-haired mage. "How much longer till I break you."

Erza looked up, staring the other woman in the eyes with a glare that only the most dangerous of her enemies ever saw. "I won't forgive you for doing that to Wendy…"

"Second Origin: Release!"

"Oh, what's this?" The woman shot another energy ball, scoring a hit to her chest. Erza felt like her heart was being ripped out through her sternum.

"Requip: Nakagami Armor!"

"It's time to end this!" She said, instantly dispelling another black lightning bolt that was about to hit her.

The other mage's eyes widened in shock as she cast her most powerful spell. An enormous ball of dark lightning surrounded the Erza, while huge bolts of dark lightning converged on the requip mage from all sides.

"Now you're dead for sure." She grinned, but the grin was wiped from her face when Erza rushed unharmed from the midst of her attack, her sword striking a blow too quick and powerful to be defended against.

"How?..." The mage cried out as she fell to the ground, then lost consciousness.

Erza returned to her normal Heart Kruz armor, breathing heavily and leaning on her sword.

 **~~~Natsu and Mira~~~**

"MIIIRAAA!" Suddenly the etherium melted around the battered dragon slayer, the hourglass, and to the other mage's horror he ate the molten etherium. When he'd finished, the intensity of the heat expanded and the hourglass itself melted.

"How?..." The other mage was just shocked. "Nobody should be able to melt that… only dragon's fire was powerful enough to melt Etherium…"

Natsu knew he had to do something fast. Mirajane was only a few seconds away from certain death. He did the only thing he could think of.

"Fire Dragon King's Inferno Apocalypse!"

This was his most destructive spell… Igneel had once told him he should never use it, as it was capable of destroying entire continents, but maybe… just maybe…

A fireball exploded on the ground, laying instant waste to all the weapons and spikes below them and engulfing the whole area in fire. Natsu's love was protected from the searing heat of the flames because they were connected to his feelings, but the other mage felt their full force. His eyes opened wide with terror as the flames engulfed him, never believing that he could be defeated by anyone, let alone a simple fire mage like this…

 **~~~Erza~~~**

Suddenly the room exploded into a huge fireball, knocking Erza to the ground. When she looked up, the mage Natsu and Mira had been attacking lay on the ground, blackened and charred. Natsu was standing, battered and bleeding, with a look in his eyes that bordered on sheer rage. His magic aura filled the cavern with an oppressive, almost choking heat. A little ways away lay Mirajane, her body torn and bleeding in many places.

"Mira!" Natsu ran for his lover, picking her up and cradling her in his arms. "Don't die Mira… You can't die on me!"

The dragon slayer tore some of his tattered clothing, bandaging up the worst cuts quickly. Then his eyes turned to the woman standing at the back of the room.

"You!" He growled, fire forming around his fist. "This is all because of you!" He started forward, menacingly.

"Natsu, stop! She barely has enough magic power to qualify as a mage! You'll kill her if you hit her with an attack like that."

"She deserves it!" Screamed Natsu. "Think about how many people her experiments have killed! And Mira…" his voice broke. "She's barely alive. She could die at any moment, and it's all because of her!"

"Natsu. I know it hurts. Believe me, I do, and you have every right to feel the way you do. But you can't just kill her now. She's defenseless against us."

"How many defenseless people has she killed?" The fire dragon-slayer screamed. "How many people have lost loved ones because of her?"

Suddenly Erza was upon him, taking the dragon slayer in her arms. He resisted strongly at first, but eventually his rage and frustration turned to tears. He melted against her, sobbing into the breastplate of her armor.

"Please don't let Mira die… I just don't think I could go on without her," he sobbed.

"Natsu," Erza said, reluctant to break the moment but knowing that time was crucial. "If you want Mirajane to live, we need to get her back to the guild right away. Which means you need to cuff this lady and call the council. Once you do that, You and Mavis can take her back to the guild for healing. I'll stay here with Wendy and wait for the council to arrive."

As his tears subsided, Natsu suddenly became aware of the young dragon slayer unconscious on the floor. "Is she alright?" He asked.

"She got beat up pretty bad," Erza said, "but she'll be fine."

Natsu nodded, composed himself, and went over to the other woman. She didn't even attempt to fight back – only cowered away from him and his eyes that almost seemed to glow red with anger.

He grabbed her and twisted her around unnecessarily hard, then slapped the cuffs on her wrist and shoved her to the ground. He then used his communications lacrima to call the council.

"Suspect is apprehended. Have one critically injured. I'm leaving for the guild with her now."

Before he could go, Mest appeared beside him.

"She'll get back faster this way," he said, teleporting to Mirajane and picking her up. "I'll see you back at the guild."

Natsu instantly headed off, running as fast as he could back out of the compound and through the forest. His whole body ached and blood poured from his open wounds, but he had to make it back to Magnolia to be with his wife. She couldn't die… He wouldn't let her.

 **~~~Deep in a forest, far away~~~**

"Ugh," Rustyrose sighed as he deposited Cana, her body battered and covered with cuts like the others, back in her cage. "These are getting to be poorer entertainment every day…"

Just then Bluenote and Kain arrived, carrying Macao and Romeo with them. "We're almost done with the weak ones now."

"What do you plan to do about Laxus and Erza?" Bluenote asked.

"You'll find out when the time comes. They may be strong, but we've been training these past months to get even stronger."

"What about Gildarts?" asked Bluenote.

"Gildarts is out on another of his journeys," Rustyrose laughed. "There's no way he'll be back in time to do anything about this."

 **~~~Fairy Tail infirmary~~~**

Natsu, who had obtained a ride on Christina (Blue Pegasus' ship), rushed into the infirmary. Mirajane was on a bed there, and Porlyusica was leaning over her with a very concerned expression.

"How is she?" Natsu asked, coming over with a worried expression. "Is she going to live?"

"I don't know yet," Porlyusica replied honestly. "If she makes it through the day, chances are good that she'll live… I've done everything I can for her – now it's just her struggle."

With that, the old healer left the dragon slayer alone with his injured wife.


	14. A Quick Beat Down

**I don't own Fairy Tail, or the characters.

Ok, so I was originally going to have a long drawn out battle, but then I thought... well, these guys don't really have nearly as much magic power as the mages they just beat the shit out of, so...

Anyway. Sorry that this doesn't have a lot of battle detail, but it shortened the story by about 2 chapters... only have 1 left now.

Enjoy**

* * *

It was almost midnight in the infirmary, and Natsu Dragneel, despite his own battle injuries and fatigue, remained at Mirajane Dragneel's side. He was really worried. With his enhanced senses, he could feel that her life force was very faint, threatening to slip away at any moment.

"Mira… you can't die…" He cried softly, clasping her hand tightly to his. "There has to be something I can do… has to be some way I can help you…"

His tears came faster as he struggled. _If I were Wendy I could just heal her… But I'm not Wendy. There's nothing my magic can do…_

He felt her life force fading even more. _If I don't do something she'll die. I know it… I know she will!_ He clasped her hands even tighter, willing his presence to help her. "I know I can do something for you Mira… I know I can. I just don't know how…"

And suddenly, he had the strangest experience in his life.

He wasn't in his own body anymore… at least most of him wasn't. He was lying flat on the bed, his eyes closed. He couldn't see, but his hand was clasped in two very warm hands.

He blinked, realizing that he was seeing something too. It was… him. He was standing there, not far away, and it was like he was trying to reach himself, but never getting closer.

"Natsu, don't leave me… you promised…" The voice was in his head, but it was Mirajane's. He could feel a profound sense of pain and loss, as though everything that he held dear was being ripped away from him.

Finally it dawned on him what had happened. Somehow his consciousness was now in Mirajane's body… Somehow he was able to feel what she was feeling, see what she was seeing. Perhaps…

 _Mirajane, I'm not going anywhere… I'm right here with you, and I'm not going to let you die._

There was a tightness in his chest, and still a profound sadness, but with a little bit of hope. "Natsu?"

 _Yes, Mira, my love. I'm here for you… I'll always be here for you._

"Natsu!"

He felt like he was getting weaker, but getting stronger at the same time. Slowly he became aware of Mira's presence with him in her body, growing stronger by the moment. It was a very intimate feeling, as though each could feel what the other was thinking and feeling at the moment. They could feel the intense need for the other to live. The intense love they held for each other.

But it only lasted a moment. As soon as Mira's life was revived enough, the dragon slayer felt himself slipping back to his own body. But in that moment he could also feel that Mira knew he wasn't leaving her for good.

As soon as Natsu's consciousness was back in his own body, he collapsed, exhausted. He was certain now that Mira would make it through the night, and even recover fully from her injuries.

 **~~~Erza~~~**

As soon as the dragon slayer had left to get back to the guild, Erza had collapsed. It was only a miracle that had kept her on her feet that long. The council members gathered her and Wendy and put them on a ship to be brought to the infirmary as well.

Now she woke up, just in time to see Natsu's brief exchange. She couldn't hear what was said, but she sensed that something important had transpired. Then she watched in shock as the dragon slayer fell to the floor.

"You're such an idiot…" She whispered as she forced her aching body out of bed, somehow lifting Natsu from the floor and getting him into the nearest bed. "I really wanted you to be my idiot…"

She leaned over to kiss his forehead, but it seemed her lips had a mind of their own. She ended up planting a long, passionate kiss on the lips of the sleeping dragon slayer.

"Mmm… Mira…" He mumbled in his sleep as she pulled back. Ashamed of what she had done, the scarlet haired mage hurried as fast as her aching body would move back to her own bed. There, she was soon asleep again, resting from her injuries.

 **~~~3 Days Later~~~**

"Hey gramps! I haven't seen Lucy, Gray, Juvia, Gajeel, or Levy… or Jet or Droy for that matter…" Natsu said. "Where are they?"

Laxus came down from the S class area around that time. "Old man, the Raijinshuu have gone missing. They were supposed to be back from their quest yesterday morning."

Makarov sighed. "Romeo and Macao were set to return from their request two days ago, and I haven't heard from them either."

Just then Porlyusica came out from the infirmary. "Erza and Wendy are fully recovered," she reported. "Mirajane was awake for a little bit, but fell asleep again a few minutes ago, as you know," she added to Natsu. "She should be fully recovered in a few more days."

"Call Erza and Wendy in here, then." Makarov said. "We need to talk."

Soon they were all assembled inside one of the planning rooms. Makarov looked grim.

"What's wrong gramps?" Natsu asked.

"Somebody is targeting Fairy Tail," Makarov replied. "It started with Lucy, then Jet and Droy. Then there was a drinking contest on our request board that was practically made for Cana. I was already getting suspicious by then, so I sent Gray and Juvia to follow her. They had a communications lacrima that they were supposed to use to report back as soon as they saw anything suspicious. They never reported in, and none of them have returned."

"Aside from that," he said, "Macao and Romeo were supposed to come back and never did. The Raijinshuu were supposed to return and are still missing. Gajeel and Levy never checked in with Sabertooth for their cooperative request, and they were supposed to report back every 24 hours. And now Elfman is missing."

"Whoever did this is smart, but not smart enough," Mavis took over as she appeared suddenly in the room. "I took the locations where Lucy, Jet, Droy, and Cana were doing requests, and I've come up with their location."

"What about the others?" Erza asked.

"Everyone after Cana was irrelevant. Cana was the last one to go on a fake request, and these people discovered that she was followed. So after that they would've changed tactics."

"So where are they?"

Makarov took over again. "Mavis has narrowed down their location to the southwest portion of this forest." He pointed to a large forest northwest of Sabertooth. "And I want all of our strongest mages – who are able – to head to that location immediately."

"Of course that also includes our newest member," he said a little louder. "Come on in."

The door opened, and the newest member of Fairy Tail who came through was none other than Brandish. The others stared in surprise.

"I thought you refused to join Fairy Tail!" Erza exclaimed.

Brandish shrugged. "I checked out a lot of guilds, and all the other guilds were boring…" her eyes flitted to Natsu, lingering on him for several moments before she looked at the guild master.

"Yes. Well, as I was saying," Makarov continued, "the five of you are the best chance Fairy Tail has now. You need to get to that forest, retrieve the missing Fairy Tail members, and give the guys who did this a beating they'll never forget.

"I'm all fired up!" Natsu grinned.

"Then get going," Makarov said.

"Hey gramps," Natsu said as he headed out.

"Yes Natsu?"

"I'm leaving Mira in your care. Make sure nothing happens to her…"

"That goes without saying," muttered the guild master as they left.

 **~~~Two days later~~~**

"We've got Fairy Tail mages, closing quickly…" Kain reported.

"Do tell," Rustyrose said with his smirk. "How many, and which ones did they send?"

"Natsu, Erza, Laxus, Wendy, and some girl with green hair that I don't recognize…"

"Green hair? Laki, maybe?"

"Not Laki – it looks like she's a new addition to the guild."

The ears of the battered prisoners perked up. The rescue team was on their way.

"It's Natsu!" Muttered Jet to Droy. "I knew he'd come to save us."

"And Erza, and Laxus… These guys don't have a chance against those three," Gray said, the excitement clear in his voice.

"I wonder who the last one is," Lucy pondered.

"Juvia wonders why Mirajane isn't here."

"Good question," Gray said. "I wouldn't think Flame Brain would go anywhere without her."

"Alright," Rustyrose said. "You all know your roles. Laina, engage Natsu – the demon boy. Kain, you take care of Laxus. Bluenote, you'll have to handle Wendy and Erza. And I'll deal with the last mage."

They instantly split up.

The prisoners could hear the sound of fighting nearby in the forest, and craned their necks, trying to get a glimpse, but they were too far away.

 **~~~In the battle~~~**

"You've gotten a lot stronger," Natsu commented to Laina as he dodged her insanely fast dagger attacks.

"Strong enough to kill your sorry ass, demon."

"I wouldn't go that far," Natsu smirked. "You've come a long way, but you've got a long way to go before that happens…"

Nearby Erza and Wendy were struggling under the effects of Bluenote's gravity. Wendy was on her hands and knees, and Erza was slowly walking toward Bluenote. Each step was a struggle.

Rustyrose didn't know who the new mage was, but he could sense her incredible magic power. He decided he had to start with his strongest attack., Tower of Dingir.

"Doesn't matter who you are, you're finished…" he grinned.

His smile instantly disappeared when his Tower of Dingir shrunk to the size of an ant, and the green-haired mage stepped on it, smashing it into the ground.

"What the fuck?... I had no intel that anyone like this was in Fairy Tail…"

Erza's slow steps became a charge, and before the surprised Bluenote could fully react, her sword reached him, knocking him back 200 feet and into the ground…

"Crimson Lotus Exploding Flame Blade!" Laina got knocked all the way back to the cages, breaking the metal bars on Gray's cage.

"Thunder Dragon's Talon!" Kain was out for the count.

"Well, that was easy…" Natsu said, cracking his knuckles. "I expected more of a challenge after our last fight."

"That didn't even count as exercise," Brandish said boredly. "Tell me more about this last battle of yours, Natsu." She said, tracing her fingers along the dragon slayer's muscular chest.

"Perhaps later," Natsu gulped.

 **~~~That night~~~**

It was late by the time everyone was freed, cuffed, and taken away. The group had decided to set up camp in the woods.

Wendy healed all the prisoners from their cuts and scrapes, and the group found enough food from their supplies to make an ample supper. Soon all were in bed, except one scarlet haired mage who sat staring at the stars. She was waiting… biding her time till everyone else was fast asleep, before making her move…

Natsu woke up to the familiar feeling of Mira's enormous boobs pressed against his skin. "Mmm.., Mira…" He smiled, taking in her scent, and then instantly jumped up as if he'd been burned.

"Erza? What the fuck?!" He yelled. The scarlet haired mage lay naked on the space he'd just occupied.

"What Natsu? Didn't you like it?" Erza asked, getting up and approaching him.

"Erza, why are you doing this?" Natsu asked, as several others who were awakened by his scream began staring. Several also ogled Erza's naked figure. She backed Natsu into a tree, her lips inches from his.

"Can you really tell me you don't want me, Natsu?" she asked seductively, trying to meet his lips as the dragon slayer moved his head from side to side. "That you're not attracted to me at all?"

"Honestly, no." Natsu said. "I can't tell you that you're not attractive, or that I wouldn't enjoy having sex with you. But I made a commitment to Mira, and I love her. It's more important to me to keep that commitment than to experience a few minutes of selfish pleasure that would cause her a lot of pain."

"So if you'll excuse me, I'll be packing my stuff up. You should go ahead and requip before people start getting their picture lacrimas out…" He pushed her away.

"Natsu, you could totally handle a mistress," Cana whispered as he walked by. "In fact, you could handle two pretty easily."

Natsu glared, packing his stuff up.

 **~~~On the walk back to the guild, after the train ride home~~~**

"I'm sorry Natsu. Can't you at least talk to me?" Erza pleaded.

"I'm really disappointed in you, Erza." Natsu said. "What else do you want me to say?"

"Say that you forgive me." She pleaded.

"I'll forgive you… As soon as Mira does."

"You're not going to tell Mirajane!" Her eyes widened.

"No, I'm not. You are."

"Why would I ever do something like that?"

"Depends on whether you want my forgiveness or not."

Erza scowled and kept walking. "That's not fair, Natsu."

Natsu shrugged and didn't say anything.

When they got back to the guild, Mirajane was the first one to greet them at the door. She ran and practically tackled Natsu to the ground.

"Welcome home, love!" She grinned. "I've got something to show you!"

"Oh really?" Natsu grinned. "I can't wait to see it."

"You don't have to," Mira smiled, pulling back from him. Her hands suddenly became engulfed in fire.

"Since when could you do that?!" Natsu exclaimed in shock.

"Since that night when you… when we…" she blushed deeply. "When you rescued me again…"

"Wow," Natsu said. "That's so cool!"

"I know, isn't it?!" Mirajane squealed, hugging her husband hard again and covering his face and neck with kisses.

Natsu smiled too, returning the kisses as much as he could. Then he pulled back, a serious look on his face.

"Mira, Erza has something to say to you…"

"I do?" Erza said, startled, before meeting the dragon slayer's eyes. "I do…"

"What is it, Erza?" Mirajane's voice sounded a bit terse.

"I… I tried to seduce your husband… Can you ever forgive me?"

Mirajane was silent for a long time. Then she looked at Natsu. "How did this happen, exactly?"

"After fighting the dark mages, we made camp in the woods. I fell asleep, and when I woke up she was laying on top of me, naked…"

Fire came to Mirajane's eyes as she turned her gaze back to Erza. "Is that true?"

Erza bowed her head in apology. "I'm sorry…"

Mira looked at her husband. "Is it true that nothing came of this?"

"I'm not going to lie to you and say that I wasn't tempted," Natsu said, "but you mean much more to me than a little bit of selfish pleasure."

"Nothing came of it," Erza confirmed. "The rest of the people there can confirm that. They were all awakened when Natsu yelled at me after he woke up…"

"I can vouch for that," Gajeel grumbled, his sensitive ears picking up the quiet conversation.

Mirajane kissed Natsu, then looked back at Erza. "I forgive you, but it's going to take some time to get past this… To trust you again…" She then turned to Natsu. "From now on, you don't go on any quests without me if she's going. Got it?"

"Gladly," Natsu said with a smile.

"Good." Mira grinned. "Now that that's overwith… Let's Party!"

"Natsu, Erza, Wendy, Brandish, Laxus! In here for the debriefing!" Makarov said.

"I want you to know that the council was happy with how your last missions turned out, first of all," said Makarov to Natsu, Erza, and Wendy. "And secondly, for all of you, this last mission has put us in the council's eye."

He sighed. "So, here's the thing. The council was happy with the way it turned out, but they're not happy that we've accepted a powerful mage from Alvarez into our guild."

"No surprise there," Brandish said.

"However, they noticed that she seemed to have an interest in a certain pink-haired dragon slayer. So, if he will agree to accompany her on all her quests until they can better ascertain her motives, they won't make any trouble for us or her over it."

"Sounds interesting," Brandish said, biting her lip unconsciously as her eyes devoured the dragon slayer's muscled body.

 _Mira's really not going to be happy about this…_ Natsu tried as hard as he could not to look at the beautiful mage, even though he could smell her hormone levels rising.

Erza snickered beside him.

"Well, that's all I have for you guys. Let's party!" Makarov grinned.

And the guild erupted into cheers.


	15. Epilogue

**I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters.

So, this is the final chapter in this story. Basically just a fluff chapter to tie everything up in a neat little bow and bring the story to a close.

I'll be working on my NaMiZa story now... I'll also be doing something else with it, just to keep things interesting. Here's what I'm thinking:

1\. The next Fairy Tail Pairing (either Natsu x Hisui or Natsu x Brandish)

2\. A series of Fairy Tail one shots, possibly rated M

3\. Break into Sword Art Online with Kirito x Silica, Kirito x Sinon, or Kirito x harem.

Let me know if you have a preference of any of these three.

Anyway, here's the story**

* * *

15 years had passed since the final rogue guild had been taken down. During that time, Natsu had mastered E.N.D., and become possibly the most powerful wizard in Fiore, if not all of Earthland. He and Mira had three children, Igneel, who was now an 11 year old boy with red hair streaked with silver, Mavis, who was a 9 year old girl with long, pink hair, and Jaena, who was a 4 year old girl with short silver hair. Igneel was already quite adept as a fire god slayer. Mavis was a powerful take over mage with beast soul. And Jaina… well, her magic wasn't showing yet, but she was brimming with magic power. There was no doubt she would be a great mage someday.

Gray had finally married Juvia 7 years ago, and they had one boy – Silver. He was 4 years old with jet black hair, and was a water mage.

Erza had never married. She had eventually gone to join the council as one of the 10 wizard saints. She had finally patched things up with Natsu and Mirajane, and was known as Aunt Erza to their children, who she absolutely adored.

Lucy ended up with some guy she met in town who was wealthy. They bought a mansion out in the country, and the guild saw little of her these days.

Gajeel and Levy were married 10 years ago, and had 2 children. The eldest was a girl of 7, who they named Sakura. She had her father's fighting spirit, and her mother's love of books. The younger was a boy of 4 named Metalicana. He was like his father in almost every respect.

Jet was slowing down as he aged. Droy was just getting fatter.

Wendy had a guy in town that she was seeing. Cana had just recently married Laxus, and Ever and Elfman's wedding had been 3 years ago. Neither couple had any children yet.

Freed and Bickslow were still single. Bickslow seemed a little miffed about it, but Freed didn't seem to care.

Kinana had married Erik, who had joined Fairy Tail after Crime Sorciere had been officially pardoned by the new council.

Jellal had also joined Fairy Tail. He had asked Erza to marry him, but Erza said it wouldn't be fair to him because she just couldn't love him anymore. He was still single, and likely to remain so.

Meredy also joined fairy tail, and seemed to be taking an interest in Romeo.

Brandish also remained single, but like Erza she was able to reconcile to Natsu and Mira. She became a beloved aunt to the children, and helped them to train their magic power.

I won't say they lived happily ever after. There were fights. There were battles. They took requests, made money. They cried together. They laughed together. But they were family.

And that's what really matters.


End file.
